Forgotten and Unforgiven
by Jestus the Strange
Summary: Revenge is something that must be earned, never given... Rated Teen for violence, and other stuff. O.C.x O.C. This and my other stories are being postponed until my recent bout of writers block subsides. Sorry for the inconvenience.
1. Introduction

The sun shone down warmly onto my black fur, warming it evenly as I lay on the beach with the sand acting as a sort of cushion beneath me. The sound of the crashing waves like music to my ears as I stretched my arms over my head and yawned loudly, my tongue lolling out of my mouth to wet my lips before I wriggled my toes into the warm sand. The sky above me was a beautiful shade of cerulean and not a single cloud was there to mar its beauty or cover the sun. I sat up gently and ran a paw through my hair to get rid of any sand that was left; my eyes open to take in the dazzling blue-green ocean as it lapped at the sand as if in an affectionate way. I brought my hands infront of me and stared at the strange, dull silver coloring of my palms before clenching them into loose fists and opening them again to stare at the claws that were barely sticking out the ends of each digit of my hand; their matte black coloration matching nicely with the rest of the dark fur on my body. I looked down at my stomach and ran a finger down my slender front, my claw brushing through the fur and tickling the skin underneath, making me giggle quietly as I continued exploring my body with my finger; running the tip over my thighs and down the length of my legs before bringing it back up to my chest to tease one of my nipples through the small belly shirt I was wearing. I moaned softly at my playing and took my finger from my nipple to put my paws on my knees as I drew them up and crossed my arms over them while I watched a couple walk by on the beach, their hands clasped together while their tails were entwined at the tips. I smiled wonderingly after them and sighed as my thoughts drifted back to Jasper and Amber again, though they were quickly shoved off to the side when I heard some shouts coming from farther down the beach. I looked around for the source of the sound and saw a cloud of sand rushing towards me.

"Of course…" I muttered as I got up from off of the sand and stared at the fur on the ATV barreling this way, his eyes alight with excitement as he tried to steer out of the way. I tensed my legs to jump and threw myself towards the ATV, as it got close enough, tackling the fur to the ground and holding him there to keep him from getting up to quickly. The ATV puttered to a stop about twenty feet away with no one to use the throttle and ran into a nearby sand dune with a thud.

"Hey, get off me! Let go!" The fur underneath me growled as he squirmed pitifully beneath me, trying to get away before the others got there. I shrugged my shoulders and got up off of the raccoon before nodding over at the ATV stuck in the dune. He blushed angrily and stalked over to it before pulling it out and driving off down the beach towards his friends, looking back at me with a wondering look before he became little more than a dot the farther he went. I sighed again and picked up the jeans that I had taken off when I had lied down before putting them on and walking off through the sand towards the pier, feeling my stomach grumbling for food.

* * *

New Haven City during the summer is a nice place to be, lots of different people to talk to, different foods to try and a ton of stuff to buy. It's not to say that it isn't a dangerous place as well, but it has its charm. It just so happened that my fellow crewmates and I had decided that a vacation was definitely needed after a few months in space with only each other for conversation, so I chose this place to vacation in. It took some persuading to keep Felix from coming out with me, but I was glad that I did.

* * *

I walked around for a while, looking for something good to eat, when I found a kiosk selling popcorn shrimp and chips with tartar sauce. I quickly made my way over to it and bought a couple servings before finding a table to start eating at. I made my way to one of the more inconspicuous tables at the end of the pier and sat down before picking up a french fry and looking at it while a smile graced my lips. "Okay kid, you can come out from hiding, I know you're there."

The raccoon from before came slinking towards me and sat down across from me, a t-shirt covering his chest and a soda can in his hand while he looked at me. "How did you know I was following you?"

"Takes practice. Want some?" I asked, offering him the other basket of food. He took it gratefully and started wolfing the food down while I nibbled at the fry in my hand. "So, why did you come looking for me exactly? Tell me your name first then talk."

The raccoon stopped eating in mid bite and closed his mouth to swallow what was in his mouth before washing it down with soda. "It's Jared. Don't suppose you'll tell me yours?"

"You supposed right, so talk."

"Eh, worth a shot. Okay Hazel, no point in beating around the bush, so here's it bluntly. We-" I cut Jared off by grabbing his collar from across the table and almost dragging him over it to look him in the eyes. A few of the other patrons looked our way, but I didn't care.

"How do you know my name?" I hissed, my food forgotten as I glared at his smirking face.

"Oh we know a lot about you and your crewmates. Felix Ulrich, Dante Skelton, Dawn Clearsh or 'Maxi' as you like to call her; there's a file as thick as a dictionary on each of you, but I had to come see you myself to believe the reports." Jared spoke nonchalantly. "An actual Rapturian, interesting. I can see now why my employer wants you for this job."

I let him go and sighed dejectedly as I picked up a shrimp and popped into my mouth before chewing it slowly, mulling over what he said while still glaring angrily at him. He just smiled and took another drink of his soda as his eyes slowly started sliding downwards from my face to my chest. "Hey, raccoon boy, I'm up here." I growled as I snapped my claws repeatedly infront of his face until he shook his head and remembered I was here. I sighed again and propped my elbows up onto the table before looking him over for any reason why they would hire a raccoon this young for anything. He wasn't that tall, about 5"6', with grey fur covering most of his body except for the black fur that circled his lime green eyes and spanned the bridge of his nose to connect the two. Dyed white blonde hair covered most of his forehead as well as some of his left eye and he had shell necklace around his neck that ended with a shark's tooth at the tip. All in all, he was an attractive teen who put on a good front of being a surfer boy who could fend off girls left and right if he chose to, but I had a feeling that he could fight if pressed to.

"Do you mind if we talk in a more… private area, Hazel? Being in the open like this makes me wary." Jared stated as his eyes darted a little too quickly for my liking, but I knew who they flickered over to before he had even made the motion. A couple of table from us was a leopard in a pair of swim trunks drinking some coffee from a cup he'd bought at the kiosk, though if I were looking at him, I'd probably see him look over at our table every now and then. I'd seen him when I passed by to get this table and deemed him a slight threat by the way he sat. His muscles were tensed and he had a scowl on his face, not really tourist behavior unless they were really angry at something or he wanted people to stay away from him.

"Okay then, if you want to talk in private, I know just the place. But you'll have to trust me and follow my lead, alright?" I asked in a hushed whisper as I made a subtle motion with my claw in the leopard's direction. He nodded and I grinned evilly as I jumped to my feet, knocking the chair over behind me with a clatter and slapping him across the face, leaving a nasty red mark on it. "We're through, Andrew! I don't ever want to see your face again!" I cried, tears forming in my eyes as I turned and ran through the crowd, my shoulders hunched and shuddering as I sobbed theatrically.

"Janice wait!" He called after me as he started running frantically to catch up, a hand to his cheek.

"NO!!" I yelled back, roughly shoving aside a group of tourists from where I could only assume was Earth by the way they were gawking as I ran past so I could get through the crowd, keeping up the act so that no one would try and stop me. By the time I had made it to the pier entrance, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I continued running until I was a good block away from the pier before I even chanced a look back, spotting Jared running frantically to keep up with me. I giggled quietly to myself and took an abrupt turn down a dark alleyway before launching myself off a trashcan and catching the bottom rung of the fire escape before pulling myself up and climbing it quickly to wait for the raccoon to catch up. When I saw him run down the alleyway, I took a few steps back for him to fit comfortably up there with me and ran up the steps of the of the fire escape to the roof, continuing my sprint to the edge before using it as a springboard to launch myself across the three foot gap to the next roof. Jared was close behind and I didn't wait for him to make the jump before I continued. I was determined to make him regret coming to me and ruining my vacation, but a part of my mind was having fun and made me take the long way to the place I had in mind.

We had been running for most of the day, ducking behind corners and sticking to the shadows in case the leopard was falling us, though if I remember right, he didn't look like the type to sustain long sprints. By the time we got to the warehouse district on the opposite end of the city, it was dusk and both me and Jared were covered in sweat and winded, more him than me.

"What… are… we… doing… here?" Jared panted as he flopped down onto the ground, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. I sat down on a nearby crate and pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing the number for Maxi's phone as I got my breath under control.

"Hey, I won't be able to make it to the party tonight. Got sidetracked and wound up at a friend's place till tomorrow. Yeah, I know Felix'll be pissed, but that's how it is. See you later, Max, and tell the guys sorry." I told her before hanging up and slipping the phone into my pocket before jumping off of the crate to stand next to Jared, who was still lying on the ground in a daze. Before I could move, I heard a click of a gun from the shadows behind me and put my hands up with a sigh, knowing that I was going to have to act again.

"Keep 'em up, vixen. Wouldn't want you trying anything that could get your head blown off, now would we?" A gruff, out of breath voice growled. I looked down at Jared and gave him a wink before sinking down to my knees with a sob.

"W-Why does this kind of stuff k-keep h-happening to me! F-First I get dumped on our anniversary and then I get c-chased around the city by my ex." I sobbed pitifully. Jared crawled over to me and tried to put his arms around my shoulders, but I shook him off and was about to slap him again when the leopard grabbed my wrist. He pulled me roughly to my feet and spun me around to find that I was smiling darkly.

"What're you smiling about, bitch?" He growled as he leaned close to me, our eyes meeting in a single glare.

"Look down." I hissed.

"You think I'm going to fall for that little trick?" He laughed into my face as he pressed the muzzle of the gun against the bottom of my chin. I shrugged and watched his eyes go wide as he pitched backwards and dropped his gun to the ground. I caught it before it hit the ground and gave him a swift uppercut as I came up, knocking him back a couple of steps as I emptied the chamber of its bullet and tossed the clip and gun over my shoulder. He grasped his chin and rubbed it a bit before spitting out a tooth, glaring a little as he reached behind his back.

"Too slow." I muttered as I pulled out a throwing knife from my jeans and threw it expertly at his throat, blood spurting past the blade as it went into the soft flesh and pierced his neck. He let out a gurgled cry and clutched at his throat, trying desperately to get the knife out as his eyes glazed over and he slumped against the wall before sliding to the ground in a sitting position.

"Why did you kill him?!" Jared gasped in shock as he stood.

"Because," I said as I walked over to the dead leopard and gently pulled the knife from his neck before wiping it clean on his shirt and giving him a kiss on the forehead as I closed his eyes. "He was going to kill me. You learn quickly that someone out there wants you dead. Better to strike first."

"Yeah, but-" I cut him off with a raised hand as I searched the leopard's pockets, looking for anything useful when I found a small holo-disk in his jacket pocket. I took what money he had on him and a couple pictures of Jared and me before getting up and walking away. Jared gripped my hand and stopped me in midstep. "Nobody told me I'd be working with a murderer, Hazel. I'm not moving another step until you tell me exactly what possessed you to kill him. For all you know, he could've had a family waiting for him."

"So? There is an equal chance that he wanted the both of us dead. Did whoever hired you tell you about the little known fact of life that not everyone will like you? He could've been a contract killer hired by someone who isn't to fond of whoever hired you and wanted to be sure that you were killed to stop me from getting his or her message. Now, if the universe worked on your logic and everyone had a family to support or something like that but still resorted to horrible things to get by, would that make them justifiable? If you can still look at me and answer truthfully with a yes, then you are more naïve than I thought." I stated coldly as I pulled my hand from his grip and started off in the direction of the south end of the district, Jared following silently after he had looked one last time at the dead leopard. It was hard to do for me too, but he had to learn the hard way that the universe wasn't as noble as he thought.

*** * ***

It was sometime around midnight when I made it to the right warehouse and banged on the side access door a couple of times and hit it a third time after a few seconds. I looked over at Jared and saw him standing with his hands in his pockets, his head bent down to look at the ground while his tail dragged on the ground.

"Who's there? How did you know I lived here?" A timid voice called out from behind the side door as a slide at head height was moved away to reveal a pair of blue tinted eyes, though I knew they were contacts.

"Cause you told me, you silly squirrel, now let us in." I teased as I saw his eyes narrow in suspicion.

"The only furs I ever told of this home were a vixen and a badger. Am I to believe that you are the vixen I told, cause if I remember right, she had caramel colored fur, green eyes and copper colored hair." The squirrel said with a nod as he reassured herself. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose before an idea formed in my head.

"If I guess the names of both the furs you told of this safe house, then can me and my friend come in?" I asked, clasping my paws behind me as I rocked back and forth on my heels. The squirrel mulled the thought over and nodded again.

"Go for it. You'll never guess their names right, though." He said with a bob of her head. I stayed silent for a couple of minutes, rubbing my chin and scratching the back of my head in thought before I snapped my claws.

"By any chance would their names be Jasper McKinley and Hazel Eros?" I asked with an innocent look on my face, trying desperately not to look smug. I heard the squirrel gasp and shut the slide. I groaned annoyedly and let my head rest against the steel door. "Oh come on, Ken, let us in. We had a deal."

"Why don't you just force your way in?" Jared said with a distasteful sneer in his voice. I was about to turn on him when the slide opened again and I was greeted with the muzzle of a pistol.

"This can work out one of two ways, vixen. Either you tell me how you know these names or I blow your brains across the asphalt. Talk." He demanded. I felt my anger start rising at the fact that a close friend of mine had a gun pulled on me and snapped.

"You wanna know how I know those names, Ken? I know more than that. You went to the same elementary school as I did and you were a shy little squirrel, too scared to even talk to people when they asked your name. We met when I saved you from a few bullies who had beat you up after school one day and we had been friends ever since. During the tenth grade you had asked me out on a date and even though I didn't feel the same, I went out on one with you because you were my friend and I didn't want to hurt your feelings. We shared secrets with one another and helped each other out whenever we needed it!" I nearly yelled at him as I stepped forward so that the barrel was pressing against my forehead. "Go on then, Kenneth, do it. If you want to kill a friend, pull the trigger." The barrel quivered slightly against my forehead and was pulled back before the slide closed softly and I could hear the locks being removed before the door opened to reveal Ken standing in a long red t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts. His pistol was in his paw while tears rimmed his eyes as he stared at me.

"It is you, Hazel," He whispered as he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged him back and found myself crying along wither him, the stress from today finally starting to get to me. He let go of me and around my shoulder at Jared, who just gave him a blank stare in return before looking back down at the ground. I sighed and told him about the day I had. When I got to the part about the leopard, he punched me harshly on the arm and immediately went to Jared's side.

"How come I get hit for saving lives?" I pouted as I rubbed my shoulder as Ken and Jared walked past me into the warehouse. I sighed and walked after them, quickly avoiding the closing door as he closed it with his foot. I looked around the massive space and saw that he had converted it into basically a flat for himself and anyone who wished to come stay with him. There was a car and a motorcycle parked near the loading dock entrance and a couple of old sofas around for him to sit on as well as a few work benches and tables littered with mechanical paraphernalia. There were a couple of office boxes still hanging above the work floor and through the windows I could see that he had made those into bedrooms by the wallpaper on the inside. I smelled the intoxicating aroma of cooked food and turned in the smell's direction to find Ken standing in a fully furnished kitchen with his hands hovering over a skillet while Jared was sitting at a square table that looked to be made up of welded steel girders that had been bent to fit the shape of a table. I walked over and quietly sat down on the opposite side of the table from where Jared was sitting and smiled to myself as I listened to the conversation they were having.

"But what about the power displacement from the factory super charger? Surely you had to have figured that into the equation when you fixed up the engine?" Jared asked; eyes alight with curiosity as Ken turned to give him a smug smile.

"Of course I did. It wasn't all that hard, to tell you the truth. I just had to override the preset controls and install one of my own chargers so that it would get more out of it. Carson doesn't like it when people mess with their cars, so they put in a chip that shuts down the car when it's turned on and a foreign performance part had been installed, so that is a problem that I take pride in getting around. It may be 'illegal' to some, but to others like myself, it's more of a public service." Ken laughed as he grabbed three plates from a cabinet next to the stove and prepared a plate of pasta and shrimp for each of us.

"Thanks." Jared said politely with a soft grin on his muzzle as he took the offered plate from his hands and sat back down before digging into the plate with a fork he'd placed there for him. I watched him tear into the food with a giggle and gratefully took my offered plate before moving over to let him sit in my seat, only to be disappointed when he sat next to the starved raccoon, but I got over it quickly and started eating myself, savoring each bite with relish. I'd forgotten how good a cook Ken was, being gone for so long and having forgotten what good food actually tasted like after months of condensed army rations. Soon I was shoveling the food into my mouth, all thoughts of civility out the window as I slurped the pasta noisily. When I caught Ken laughing at me, I just gave him a shrug and went back to eating. I ended up going back for thirds before I was satisfied and washed off my plate in the sink to save Ken the trouble.

"I'm surprised you didn't eat the entire plate as well, Hazel. You act like you haven't eaten all day." Ken laughed as he put his and Jared's plates into the sink. I burped into my hand and grinned over at him as I ran my tongue over my lips, tasting the sauce that he had cooked the meal in and giggling giddily.

"You try running around the city for most of the day trying to outrun a leopard out to kill you, all while keeping up the façade that the raccoon chasing almost two steps behind you is a persistent ex-boyfriend who's trying to get you to calm down. It's very tiring." I said with a dramatic swoon.

"This isn't something that you should be joking about, Hazel." Jared said quietly, staring down at the table to keep eye contact to a minimum. I sighed and propped my elbows up onto the tabletop to cup my chin in my hands before looking at him directly.

"Jared… I know what you're thinking about me right now and trust me, I feel that way every time I kill someone. Sometimes it's a necessity to kill to save a life, though I wish it didn't have to be that way. I'm sorry you had to see that today, but your going to see death from time to time in your life, so you should try to get used to it." I whispered, trying to get him to understand. I heard him sniff and watched him wipe a hand across his eyes to dry his tears before he looked up at me, a kind of sadness in his eyes that I knew all to well. It was the sadness of one in mourning. Ken looked as if he were about to ask him what was wrong, but I stopped him with a shake of my head and looked back at him to see that he was staring at me again.

"I-I know how it feels to experience someone's death, H-Hazel, so don't lecture me about it." He stammered angrily, fury now sparking in his eyes as he got up from his chair and stalked off up to one of the bedrooms above before slamming the door shut behind him, the sound echoing around the massive space a few times before dying out quietly in the rafters and gantries high above. I sighed and let my head rest against the table my arms stretched out to the edges to grip them tightly. Ken watched him go and sighed before slumping in the chair tiredly and putting a hand over his eyes.

"Man, Hazel, why did you have to kill the poor guy if he wasn't going to kill you? Even from what you told me, I know you well enough that you could've easily knocked him out or something, but killing him? That was just overdoing it just a tad much." He said, making me sigh again and sit up a little to look at him directly with a sad look in my eyes.

"Yeah… I know I should've knocked him unconscious instead of killing him, but I didn't think when I did it. I was moving purely on instinct and I guess my hands moved on their own. Does this make me a bad person?" I asked him, putting my head on the table and covering it with my arms with a groan. I felt him put a comforting hand on my shoulder and moved my arms a little to see him smiling understandingly at me.

"No Hazel, it doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a person who deals with dangerous things in her life and has to protect herself from any and all eventualities." He said before rubbing my shoulder comfortingly and getting up with a yawn. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired. I'm going to bed and please, don't sneak into it like you used to whenever you slept over at my house, else I might have to kick you out." He joked as he cut off the lights before mounting the steps to his room. I sighed and followed him up, seeing as I would infinitely rather sleeping in the same bad as him than that of an emotional seventeen year old. I closed the door once I got in his room and grabbed a pillow and a blanket from off of his bed when I noticed Ken doing the same thing.

"Umm, Ken, what're you doing? I don't mind taking the floor if you would rather the bed. Trust me, I've had worse sleeping conditions." I said as I started setting up my makeshift bed on the floor, but he shook his head and gathered up my stuff before throwing it back on the bed with a grin on his face.

"Now, what kind of host would I be if I did that? No, I'll take the floor. Seriously, you look like you need a comfortable spot to sleep." He said before lying down on the floor and turning his back to me before going to sleep quickly, though I could tell he was faking from the annoyingly loud snores he was making. I sighed irritably and crawled under the warm covers before curling up slightly to fall asleep, leaving my hands away from my body to the empty side of the bed incase he tried to get back into the bed with me.

"Goodnight, Hazel." He said with an extra loud snore, making me cringe and throw an extra pillow at his head with a satisfyingly soft thump.

"Goodnight, Kenneth."

_**I hope you guys like returning to the universe of Infected with this new iteration. I decided to revise this chapter because the way I was writing the story wasn't going to end well, so I decided to rewrite the rest of chapters after this one as well. I think it'll be better this way, so if you are confused, just send me a P.M. and I'll try and clarify it for you. **_


	2. Happy Reunion

_There was fire everywhere. The inferno had already engulfed most of the rooms of the complex and threatened to collapse the roof on our heads with its strength. I looked around through slitted eyes and covered my face with my torn sleeve to filter the air I was breathing. Maxi ran over to me with an assault rifle in her hands and a dark glare on her eyes as she looked around at the building with me._

"_Hazel we have to go!" I heard her shout over the roar of the flames; though the recent explosion that had rocked the floor we were on muffled her voice thanks to the fact that my ears hadn't stopped ringing yet. I couldn't bring myself to leave those still trapped in the burning building, but I had to think of my own life to protect. I turned around and was about to make my run with her when I heard a cry for help; a young, hoarse voice that made me dredge up the survival instinct deep inside of me and run off in the direction of the crying, despite the calls Maxi was shouting after me. I couldn't leave such a defenseless child behind to die when they could have a full life ahead of them. I sprinted towards the sound through the burning hall, the flames licking at my heels and the smoke stinging my eyes as I pulled the sleeve tighter around my muzzle to act as a better filter. I heard a loud crack to my left and slammed myself against the wall that was weakened by the fire, going straight through it and sailing into a pile of wet sheets. _

"_Why won't anyone help me?" The voice choked directly underneath me. I got up from off of the sheets and quickly threw them from over who was talking to see a small child clad only in a pair of scrub pants and curled into a trembling ball, his stomach wrapped in bandages and his left eye covered by a patch of cotton. _

"_Don't worry, little guy, I'm here to help you." I cooed reassuringly before scooping him into my arms carefully. I turned around and jumped back as the ceiling caved in onto the spot I had just been standing on, looking desperately for another place to escape through. __**Screw this…**__ I thought as I brought up my hand and sent a shockwave of energy through the debris to send it flying into the wall ahead of me. I quickly sprinted out of the room and down the burning hallway back towards where I remember the entrance was when I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and was sent flying through a weak wall into an abandoned office, crashing into a desk and flipping over it into a chair that had somehow made it through the fire. I quickly got up to my feet and clutched the trembling child against my chest as I looked through the hole I'd made at the shadow that was stalking towards us. _

"Hazey is a trapped little vixen. My, how the roles have reversed." A chilling voice spoke over the blaze as I looked around for an exit from the flames that were creeping into the room behind the shadow. I stopped short and stared wide-eyed at the shadow as the firelight glinted off their right arm, making my heart stop and my blood run cold. I backed away quickly from the shadow standing infront of me in the only exit I could see and spotted a window out of the corner of my eye. "That's right Hazey, run away from me. You always have and you were always to weak to stop me." The shadow giggled manically as I took off at a dead sprint towards the window before throwing myself through it and spinning quickly to grip my claws against the wall to stop me as I started sliding down the wall, the pain in my paw excruciating but not unbearable. When I was sure I could withstand the drop, I let go of the wall and plummeted the last few feet before landing in a deep crouch, making sure that the mouse in my arms wasn't hurt from the fall.

"_Damnit Hazel, you need to stop doing that kind of shit. You're more useful alive than dead." Maxi swore as she jogged over to me. I stood up and handed her the mouse before looking back up at the window I'd jumped out of to see the shadow standing there with a smirk lighting up her features as she mouthed something to me. _

"_I'm coming for you Hazey. You and that dragon of yours, you both are going to die by my hands."_

I woke up drenched in a cold sweat and turned to hold onto Felix as I always did after that dream plagued me, only to find that I was hugging empty air. I resigned to holding my stomach in an attempt to comfort myself, but found little comfort in my own embrace. I sighed into the sheets and let go of my stomach before sitting up to find that I couldn't hear Ken's snores from the foot of the bed. I threw the sheets from off of me and climbed out of the bed before looking out the window to see him and Jared sitting at the table with mugs in their hands and talking about something. I was about to join them when I felt my phone vibrate against my leg.

"Hello?"

"Hazel, where the hell are you?" Felix asked, making me cringe as I leaned against the wall.

"Would you calm down, Felix. I'm still at my friend's place. Why are you so angry this morning?" I asked. He sighed and I heard him apologize when there was a loud crash from downstairs. I looked out the window and saw Jared glaring at Ken for some reason. I told Felix I had to go and hung up on him before walking out of the bedroom and jumping down to the floor with ease.

"Oh, good morning Hazel… I see you found out about our little argument." Ken said as I looked over at the smashed coffee mug. I sighed irritably and sat down next to the squirrel before letting my head lay on the tabletop, not in the mood for fighting this early in the morning. Jared was about to say something when I held my hand up to stop him from talking and looked up at both of them with a semi-glare.

"Twelve days. Twelve days are all I have before I have to go back on the Nomad for who knows how long. Twelve days that I thought were going to be filled with fun, parties and time alone with Felix, but no. Now, on the second day that I'm here in the city, I meet up with a raccoon asking about a job and I have already killed someone. I hadn't even gotten into a fight yet until I met you, Jared. And now, I have a holo-disk in my pocket that's calling out to my curious side, but I won't watch it until I know what the hell I've gotten myself into. So, you have thirty seconds to start talking before I take that motorcycle and go back to my teammates with you as a permanent roommate for my friend." I said tiredly before letting my head fall onto the table again, still looking at Jared with a now piercing glare that made him squirm a little.

"If you must know, the company that sent me to hire you is in need of… an eradication squad for troublesome experiments and such." He said before looking away. I knew who exactly he was talking about before he had even finished, so I shook my head and got up from the table before walking over to the motorcycle.

"No. I will never work for Sunshade and I will never act as some company's maid. Go find yourself a new patsy, cause I'm done." I growled before putting a strong charge through the bike to start it up and opening the doors that led to the loading dock with a bolt of lightning from my hand. I revved the engine and drove off as quickly as possible, nearly hitting the door on my way out. I had only gone maybe thirty feet when an explosion rocked the ground directly infront of me, sending me flying off of the bike and forcing me spin so I would land on my feet.

"The Gallant Project is within sight. Proceed with extreme caution. I repeat, proceed with extreme caution." I heard someone call out of a loud speaker, striking me as odd because I didn't have the infection on my arm or within my body anymore. I watched as a few armored jeeps rolled to a stop infront of me from different areas of the dockyard and started to back away slowly when a contingent of well-armed soldiers piled out of them, all carrying pulse rifles and covered in Pyrex retrieval armor, their faces covered by combat helmets with phosphorescent yellowish gold visors. I slipped a combat knife from my pants pocket and sized up the odds against me with a small frown on my face that quickly turned to a grin as I noticed that a few of them were shivering, albeit minutely.

"What's the matter guys, afraid of a little vixen like me?" I asked innocently before letting electricity crackle at the blade of my knife and from the tips of my claws while fire licked at my feet, giving me an awe inspiring look. Before any of them could move, I dashed towards the nearest soldier and gave him a strong uppercut to the jaw before flipping the blade so that it faced backwards and slammed it into the chest of another, sending them both falling to the ground with audible thuds; one with a crater in his chest and the other with a broken neck. I dropped to my knees in a low crouch and pushed out a wave of flame in all directions around me, lighting the group on fire as I stood up. I knew the flames wouldn't do anything to the soldiers themselves, but I concentrated on destroying their weapons for the moment to leave them unarmed.

I continued to quickly run through the remaining few in the group before moving on to the next one. I used the jeep nearest me to vault off of and was met with the clicks and whirrs of priming pulse rifles, all trained on me as I flew through the air. I snickered a little and dropped onto an unfortunate soldier who hadn't gotten his weapon up in time before snapping his neck with a simple twist of my interlocked legs. I leaned back and used my momentum to send his body flying into the two directly behind me, unholstering his plasma pistol with a quick movement and shooting two others in between the eyes before I hit the ground. I landed on the flat of my palm and did a quick hand spin before returning to my feet, facing the last soldier with the pistol held up to his helmeted face.

"Please, don't kill me…" He whimpered before I lowered the pistol and made to turn around before slamming my elbow into his visor, smashing the plexiglass and sending him into the jeep with a loud thud. He slid down to the ground and I rooted through his pockets before fishing out a couple more clips of ammo and standing to get ready to meet the next wave of enemies when the jeep behind me exploded in a ball of flame and flipped towards me and the unconscious soldier. I growled in annoyance and grabbed his arm before diving out of the way, barely missing the crushing impact by a few inches. I dropped his arm and rolled to my feet quickly before spotting the thing that had blown up the jeep.

The thing was huge; with eight spider-legs carrying it while a long, slowly flailing tail tipped with what looked to be a beam cannon embedded in the tail waved about lazily behind it. There were eight sensory orbs on its front that were all centered on me at the moment and two heavy caliber, possibly anti-vehicular machine cannons adorned its claw-like arms. The whole mech was colored black and there was the symbol for Sunshade on it helm, making me roll my eyes and growl in anger as I stood up. I noticed the missile launcher sticking out just above its right arm socket as it aimed down at me with a whir.

"**MUST CAPTURE GALLANT PROJECT AT ALL COSTS." **It droned out as a tracer dot splashed itself on my chest before moving up to my forehead, making me snicker and put the pistol into my pocket to replace it with my second knife. I waited for it to take a step forward before rushing it quickly, zigzagging through the hail of bullets directed at me and making it underneath the mech to slice my knives up into its underbelly, getting a shower of sparks as my reward as they sliced through the toughened metal platting. I continued to slice through the mech and its joints on the underside when the tail lowered to the ground and slammed into my side, sending me flying out from under it and hitting a shipping container hard, leaving a dent in it as I sank into it slightly.

_Well, at least it isn't that weak._ I thought with a wry grin before pulling myself out of the dent and landing on the ground in a light crouch as the mech stomped over to me. I jumped back up onto the container to get a slight height advantage on the mech before leaping onto the top, spinning to dodge the bullets whizzing by my head as I slid a little on the slick, angled surface of the mech's head. I let some energy run through the blades to lengthen them to three feet each and stabbed down into the CPU to send sparks flying all around me, the mech swaying and stumbling around as it tried to compensate for losing its 'brain'. I let a mixture of electricity and flame build in my hands before slamming them into the armor, the strength of the hit buckling the armor and frying the inner components while melting anything of use inside it. I pulled my hands away and wrenched my knives from its head before dropping down onto the ground, using a slight burst of energy to stop me from breaking anything on the fall, the mech falling into a smoking heap. I walked a few steps and felt a sharp pain in my stomach, closely followed by a searing sensation in my outer extremities. I turned to face whoever it was that had hit me and felt a crushing blow hit my back, sending me sprawling and forcing me to do a handspring to keep from falling face first. I spun around and landed on my feet to face the attacker, feeling anger welling up in me while energy crackled up and down my arms.

The person who had attacked me was a man that looked a little over my age, with stubble growing on his chin and brown hair that was spiked up slightly. He was wearing normal civilian clothes like I was, a pair of baggy cargo shorts and a slightly loose muscle shirt, but the only discernable difference was that he was wearing a set of holo-tags with the Sunshade symbol on them.

"So they've resorted to sending single people after me now? Well, saves me time and energy if you ask me." I smirked as I put my knives back into my pockets and put my hands up in my fighting stance, seeing no need to use weapons. The man didn't show any sign of emotion and did the same, his stance tailored to more of a grappler's fighting style, so I knew what to expect. He rushed at me and I dodged nimbly to the side before whipping my heel around to catch him on the back of the head, but was met with empty air. I felt him wrap his arms around my waist and smashed my elbow into his face before getting free of his grip and spinning around to slam my fist into his face, only to meet his waiting hand. He closed his fingers around my fist and lifted me by the front of my shirt before throwing me bodily over his shoulder, sending me into the ground with a muted thud and a gasp of breath. I quickly rolled away from him and got onto my feet before shaking the pins-and-needles sensation I had gotten from his grip out of my hand, grinning all the while as I turned to face him.

"Why do you fight?" He asked suddenly, catching me off guard with the question and his slight Russian accent. I kept quiet and got back into my stance, altering it a little to compensate for his incredible speed and rushed him before feinting right as I was within three steps of him. He shifted his weight onto his right foot to grab me and I changed direction at the last minute to give him a crushing straight to his chest, sending him skidding back slightly before he recovered. I was on him in a second and followed up with a heavy uppercut, but was grabbed from behind again and this time I hadn't had enough time to stop him from throwing me over his shoulder onto my hands. I was about to spring back up when he kicked me hard in the small of my back and sent me sprawling to the ground hard, sending the breath rushing from my stomach as I tried to get up. He waited patiently in his grappler's stance for me to get ready to fight again and I tried to figure out why he hadn't tried to finish me off when I was lying on the ground. I got up steadily onto my feet and stared him down, his soft blue eyes seemingly uncaring as they stared back into mine.

"Why do I fight? I fight because I have to protect those I care about." I said before rushing at him again, feeling the toll of the sustained fighting starting to get to me.

I tried on numerous occasions to end the fight, but every time I was about to deal a finishing blow, he came out of nowhere and knocked me on my ass. I couldn't see a pattern to his method of fighting no matter how hard I concentrated on him. By the time I was panting from both pain and exhaustion, we had been fighting for nearly an hour.

I spit out some blood from his last strike to my stomach and heard engines coming towards us. I tried to bring my hands up in defense, but they were feeling numb from blocking his hard shots to my body. The jeeps drove up to where the others were parked and this time, only a few soldiers came out, but they were armed to the teeth with plasma rifles and heavy duty armor that would stop everything short of a tank and were flanking a fur in a dark business suit with their rifles poised in my direction. She looked over at me with a certain disdain and walked over to the grappler before putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll take it over from here, Jackson."

"Yes Madame Director." He muttered before relaxing and moving off to the jeep to wait for her, hopping up on to the hood with a single, graceful movement. The wolfess turned her attention to me and I glared back, desperately sending shocks of electricity through my body to wake it up.

"So we finally have a chance to meet, Hazel or should I call you Gallant Project?" She said smugly, making me growl and take a heavy step towards her. The soldiers trained their guns on my head but the wolfess shook her head and they stood down.

"Stop calling me that. And I told your little errand boy back there I'm not interested in becoming your company's maid, so you can just leave." I glowered before straightening my back and hearing it crack loudly, glad that my powers had finally started working again. She sighed and shook her head in a somewhat sorrowful fashion, reminding me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on where I had seen the motion before.

"That is such a shame, Hazel. We might've been able to do so many good things for this universe, but I cannot force you to do what we want." She said before walking back over to the jeep she had gotten out of. "Incapacitate her. I want her alive to bring back to Dr. Graves for him to-" She was cut off when one of the soldiers yelled in pain and was thrown bodily out to land at my feet, his torso facing onto the ground while his legs were crumpled against his waist.

"How about giving her a second opinion?" A chilling voice rang out from atop the jeep, closely followed by a deep, rumbling laugh that was somewhat familiar. I looked up with the rest of them and felt my blood run cold when I caught the eye of the girl from my nightmares and my past. Her new host was a beautiful woman with long, flowing black hair and eyes the color of liquid sapphire while she was wearing a loose fitting jacket and a pair of jean shorts that hugged to her hips nicely but were rather lengthy and baggy, hanging just above the midway point of her shins.

She grinned down at me and I looked over at the guy standing next to her who I realized was Axel, though he looked a lot different than when we had been dating. He had what seemed to be a mixture of traits of both a lynx and a liger; his fur having changed from a pure black to a black and silver mixture not unlike my own and his eyes had become a frightening frost blue instead of the warm violet colored they had been when we were dating.

"How nice of you to join us, TP-555 and HP-666." The wolfess growled as they dropped down to the ground and walked over to me, making me take a step back hesitantly before charging my hands with electricity to protect myself from the fight I knew was going to happen.

"We have names, Hannah, or are you still fuming over the fact that you can't have Xale as a pet? Or a lover?" She asked insultingly as she draped her infected arm around his shoulders affectionately, making me wince as memories of the hell that my mind had been when I was dealing with the parasite in my body came to the forefront of my mind. I was even more surprised when she had called him Xale, but those thoughts were pushed off to the side as I watched another one of the mechs blow down a stack of shipping containers. I was about to slip the knives out again when Xale laughed and disappeared from view before reappearing onto the mech's head. He opened his maw wide and I could see black energy brimming from his mouth as he brought his head down before blowing a huge hole in it to the ground with a concentrated burst of energy.

I was awed by his strength and felt weak when I compared myself to him. I was about join in when I was met with the man's face directly infront of me and his arms wrapped securely around my waist before being launched over him and seeing the ground rush up to meet me. I braced to hit the ground and felt my skull collide hard with it, stars exploding in my eyes as he let me go to fall onto my back with a solid thud. He was about to pick me up again, but he was thrown as if by some giant hand and I felt my grips on reality start to go as I slowly slipped unconscious. I shook the lethargy from my body gently and sent a semi-powerful shock through me to get rid of the blinding headache before getting up to my feet.

"Well, it goes to show that not all projects are perfect." I heard one of the soldiers say from behind me as he tried to hit me with the stock of his rifle. I grinned and sidestepped his strike before grabbing his arm as it passed and snapping it at the elbow. I let him go and gave him a flaming uppercut before giving him a rising crescent kick to the chin, the electricity crackling through my feet sending enough energy through his armor to cause his helmet to crack loudly and the padding to pop audibly in places as the filaments were blown. I landed on my hands and sprung up quickly to land on my feet, a dark sort of smile on my lips while a black aura surrounded me.

"If you want me to show you what a Rapturian can do, then you'll learn to regret being curious!" I growled as I rushed towards the jeep, my hands alight with fire as I grabbed the first soldier to try and protect Hannah by the helmet. I raised him up a little and slammed him into the ground before standing with a dark fire in my eyes. The soldiers stood infront of Hannah to protect her from me and I laughed at their efforts.

"Very nice. Michael wasn't lying when he said the Gallant Project was powerful, but I think it quails in comparison to both the strengths of the Demise and Hyperion Projects." She said in my direction, making the fur on the nape of my neck bristle with anger and the aura darken a little.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!" I roared angrily, slamming my hand into the ground and sending a shockwave throughout the surrounding area; causing cracks to form around me and split the ground under their feet. I charged at them from the crouch I was in and quickly snapped the necks of the first two soldiers before aiming my attacks at Hannah, though my hand never made it farther than an inch from her nose. I turned my head and saw that the man was holding my wrist.

"No one threatens the Director." He muttered before throwing me easily from her into the other jeep, shattering the glass and making it rock gently from the hit. I dropped to the ground and snarled angrily at him before rushing him, only to get grabbed by the throat and slammed into the ground hard. "Surrender to my will, Hazel." He murmured as I struggled against his grip, lashing out at him and sending random bursts of energy from my flailing hands into anything near me. He pressed harder against my throat and I found it hard to breathe, black spots starting to speckle my vision the more I struggled.

"Awww, come on Jackson, don't you want to play anymore?" I heard her ask playfully as she kicked him off of me and sent him sliding along the ground with a burst of what I could only assume was psionic energy from her palm. I took in large gulps of breath and tried to stand, but Xale was already there to help me up.

"Can't keep yourself out of trouble, Hazel?" He said with a chuckle, making me turn and glare at him. I shook my head and turned back to find that Hannah was gone, as were the three remaining soldiers protecting her. I looked around for them and found one of the jeeps driving off down the docks, leaving me to sigh angrily and punch the jeep left behind in irritation, leaving a sizeable dent in it.

"Hope we can play again soon Jackson… HAZEL! HOW'VE YOU BEEN?" I heard her ask from nowhere as she hugged me tightly, leaving me to gasp for breath after a little bit. She let go and smiled brightly at me while I glared in confusion at her.

"Well, I doubt either of you are going to leave now that you're here, so I guess I'll have to bring you with me when I meet up with the others. But before I do that, I have one question: Why?" I asked, looking from the forebodingly oppressive frost blue eyes of Xale to the warm inviting liquid sapphire of his companion.

"Because, silly, we want to destroy Sunshade for using us in this manner. I had an epiphany in their R&D department and now I'm all for helping you out however I can. Michael has to pay." She said with a delighted grin as she punched the same jeep and sent it sliding back a few feet before spreading the fingers of her infected hand to look at the metal like substance covering her arm.

"Yeah… that's it. Seeing as this is the first time either of us have met, I'm Xale." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and smiled in my direction. I smiled back, though I didn't know why I was and heard her giggle slightly before remembering that she was there with us.

"You two have a lot of catching up to do, but before you get too comfy, I'll have to tell you that Xale is mine." She said with a slightly possessive air about her as she wrapped an arm around his waist. I rolled my eyes and moved away from them both before pulling my phone out and was about to throw the trashed thing when it floated out of my hand and slowly fit back together. It dropped into my palm and I nodded my thanks to her before calling Maxi.

"**Hazel, you need something?"** Dante answered, leading me to believe they had slept together the night before.

"Yeah, is Maxi fine enough to make some decisions or she still asleep?" I asked, listening intently to try and hear any sounds of sleep in the background. There was a slight rustling of bed sheets and I heard a hushed argument between the two of them before Maxi got on.

"**What is it, Hazel? What are you calling me for this early in the morning? Weren't you the one to ask for this vacation and when do you ever wake up before nine?"** She asked irritatedly, making me picture her with bloodshot eyes and a hangover that hurt like hell.

"Well… remember Michael and all of the stuff he did to the people in that base you sent me to?"

"**Yeah… don't tell me he came after you?"** She asked alarmed.

"No, nothing like that but it turns out that he works for Sunshade and a couple of old friends from a while back showed up for some quality time." I answered before looking back at Xale and his friend.

"**Oh… is one of those friends who I think it is?"** She asked back.

"Yeah, so they want to meet you and they say that they want to take down Sunshade as well. So, where do you want me to meet you at?" I asked before walking over to the dock edge and looking out over the harbor.

"**I guess you can bring them back to the hotel, but if this is what I think this is, then we're going to have to cut our vacation short. See when you get here, Hazel."** She said before hanging up. I closed the phone and slipped it into my pocket before walking back over to them to find that they were sitting in the vacated jeep and whispering to each other.

"Well, what did they say?" Xale asked. I opened up the jeep's passenger door and slid over to the driver's seat before hitting the engine start button.

"She said she wants to meet you at the hotel we were staying." I said before driving off to the warehouse to tell Ken goodbye. I got out of the idling jeep and walked through the open loading dock door to find both him and Jared gone. I walked up to the stairs that led to the bedrooms and took the steps two at a time to find that the door to the room Jared had slept in was locked. I brought my foot up and gave it a swift kick to break it down before being met with the barrel of a concussion rifle. I ducked under it as it fired and tackled Ken to the ground, flicking his forehead hard as I straddled his hips and glared down at him.

"Sorry bout that Hazel. Didn't know you were there." He said with a grimace as I got off of him and stomped on his chest lightly before helping him up. I looked around for Jared and guessed that he had fled when the others got here.

"You have anywhere else to stay, Ken? I don't want you getting killed because you know me or captured for the same reason." I told him as I walked out of his room to let him pack.

"Yeah, I got a few hidey holes to hold up in if need be, but I'd be too worried about you getting into all sorts of trouble without me there. Wherever you go, I go. Remember, we made a pact after college that if we ever met up again, we'd stick together and watch each other's backs. Besides, I bet you might be in need of my 'services' on this team you're a part of." He called down as I dropped to the floor and walked over to the table to wait.

"You do know what you're getting yourself into right?" I called back, remembering the things Amber had told me plus all of the media attention Sunshade and its former incarnation had gotten for botched experiments and all types of horrible tests on living subjects.

"Yeah, I knew when I heard Sunshade was involved. Even so, I'm still sticking by you no matter what." He said as he came out dressed in a black jacket and some faded blue jeans with a duffle bag on his shoulder and his concussion rifle in hand. I grinned up at him and shook my head before walking off to his car.

"Fine then, if you know what's in store for you, then I won't stop you from tagging along. Just follow me to the hotel and don't ask questions until you meet my boss." I told him as I sat on the hood of his car, a matte black Carson Annihilator Phoenix with a single white stripe running along its length. He walked over and tossed his bag into the backseat before sitting next to me and putting a hand on my shoulder.

"This boss of yours… they anybody I know?" He asked, making me smile.

"Maybe… maybe not. She might remember you, though. Does the name Maxi ring any bells?" I asked back, my smile brightening as he laughed and shook his head in disbelief. He climbed off his car and gave me a hug before getting into his car and turning on the engine with a roar. I jumped off of the car's hood and smiled back before running off to get into the jeep, a grin on my face brighter than I'd had on all day.

_**The next chapter of FaU is going to talk about the reason why Xale and his 'friend' had to leave the company. I think it needs to be stated as a full chapter and not just a few long paragraphs to set up some of the events later on in the story. Hope you enjoy it. And sorry to ShadowFox0324, but that means the Xale chapter has to be given the ax to make way for the other chapters. Sorry, man, but he'll get a much better one if I can write it. **_


	3. For Reasons Now Known

**Three Days Earlier… **

I was driving around the city towards my second job, my headache getting worse with each passing minute. I couldn't be late again or else the boss was going to have my ass and my job and I wasn't going back to the apartment without the rent. I shuddered at the thought of what the landlord was going to make me do to pay it off and sped up a little bit. I looked down and picked up a bottle of Advil before popping the top and taking a couple, wishing I had bothered to buy the instant relief stuff. I saw the light turn red, but there weren't any cars passing or any ahead of me, so I decided to gun through it and save some time.

I heard the horn blare at the last second as I pulled into the intersection and turned to see the bright fog lamps of a truck barreling towards my left side. I tried to scream, but there wasn't enough time. The truck drove into my small hatchback and knocked me for a loop, sending the car flipping a few times until the world was upside down with me dangling upside down with my arms resting in awkward angles above me on the car roof. I groaned and looked down to see that there were shards of glass embedded in all sorts of places on my body, staining my clothes with blood in different spots while I was stuck in my seat thanks to my seatbelt.

"_Is anybody out there? Help me!" I cried hoarsely, the effort making my throat constrict painfully on itself as tears started coming to my eyes. I saw a blinding light enter the shattered window to my left and I had to squint in order to see straight. There was a crunching of glass beneath boots and I saw a dark silhouette stand infront of my window, their jeans getting slightly wet in the rain._

"_Are you alright, ma'am?" A somewhat inviting voice asked as the figure kneeled and I could see that it was a lynx, though there was some liger traits on his face and the way his body was built. I shook my head and he reached into the car and made sure that I wouldn't fall on my head before undoing the belt clip, making me fall onto his outstretched arms. He helped me out of my car and scooped me up into his arms, making me stop in surprise, but I didn't want to try and fight him to let me walk on my own. He carried me over to his waiting truck and placed me gently in the passenger side before quickly climbing into the driver's seat. _

"_Thanks… I'm sorry I don't know your name." I said sheepishly as I looked at the lynx-liger hybrid sitting next to me. _

"_Its Xale and yours?" _

"_Fortune, though most of my friends call me Jessie." I replied, giving him a smile. He smiled back and shifted the truck into gear before driving off. _

I woke up with a groan and put my hands to my ears, pressing my palms hard against them so that I wouldn't get to hear the annoying alarm clock that was ringing loudly from the bedside table. When that didn't work, I pulled my hand away from my ear and watched the ceiling fan spin slowly overhead, my eyes narrowing slightly as I stared at the lines that the simulated sunlight made running through the blinds. I aimed my hand at the alarm clock and blew it up with a concentrated burst of psionic energy, sending it into the wall and smashing it to pieces. I turned over onto my side and pulled the covers over my head when the blinds were mechanically pulled open, letting in the fake sun in all its glory.

"Time to wake up, Fortune. You need to get ready for your daily test. Do you want-" A monotone voice started but I flipped the husky the bird and covered my head again, wanting to go back to sleep. The blankets were pulled off of me and I felt a pinch in the small of my back before a hand patted my hip tenderly. "There, that wasn't so bad now was it?" The voice asked.

"Test over with, now leave and let me sleep. And never touch me there again, James." I growled as I snuggled deeper into the mattress, ignoring the slight breeze that was blowing over my nude body to nip at my flesh.

"Stubborn as always. Guess she doesn't want to see me after all." I heard a familiar voice chuckle. I looked over my shoulder and grinned ruefully in Xale's direction, the lixer leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his muzzle.

"Oh I do want to see you, Xale, just when I'm fully awake. I take it that you had fun with your mission on Nanuet?" I asked, more than a hint of disdain in my voice as I thought about that planet and the awful memories it held for me, though they weren't mine at all. He shrugged and walked over to the bed before lying down on it with me, wrapping his arms snuggly around my waist before resting his cheek against mine.

"More like a knowledgeable trip down memory lane. Its intriguing to learn about the culture there and meeting the dragoness that was in charge after Alexander was dethroned. But, there wasn't any new information on the Rapturian race there either." He mused quietly, making me roll my eyes slightly and cuddle into his warm embrace.

"Well sounds boring to me… what about that other problem you had? Former self still popping up and annoying you to no end?" I asked, remembering Axel fuzzily from my time spent in Hazel's body. In truth, it was more the concept of a guy like Axel that I couldn't remember well, although all of the hot and heavy nights he and Hazel had I could remember quite clearly. He sighed and nuzzled my cheek gently.

"We've come to an agreement and we won't speak to each other until we both have something worthwhile to say to one another. That way I don't have to listen to him all the time and he won't comment on every thought I have. What about you, yours acting up?" He asked quietly. I shook my head and waited for the giggle that usually accompanied a blatant lie like that, but I couldn't hear her this time.

_Damnit, Jessie, quit hiding and pipe up. _I called out in my head, hearing nothing come back, which made me worried.

"I can't hear her anymore…" I trailed off, feeling anger start bubbling up in my stomach as I realized what had happened. Xale could feel the raise in my powers and let go of me before getting off the bed and standing out of the way. I sat up and looked around for the husky who had taken one of the closest friends I'd ever had away from me. I felt my powers start going wild and watched out of the corner of my eye as the pieces of the clock started floating towards me before coming together to form the clock again.

"JAMES!!!!!" I roared, my voice full of hatred as I jumped off of the bed and started for the door, my steps causing the steel to start unraveling off the floor the closer I got to the door. I concentrated on it and sent the steel slab flying into the wall adjacent my room before running out into the hallway. I turned in a full circle and found the husky standing right next to the doorway, his hands clasped behind him as he stood at attention.

"Yes, Fortune, how may I be-" The rest was muffled in his sputtering as I grabbed his neck and shoved him roughly against the wall.

"You can be useful and tell me why I can't hear another voice in my head! She was my friend and I liked hearing her voice, now bring her back!" I demanded, leaning forward to glare angrily into his dull gray eyes while I tightened my grip on his throat.

"I'm afraid that can't happen, Fortune. Michael specifically gave me that shot for you to alleviate the discrepancy in your brain wave patterns. Her conscience is no longer a part of you." He choked out, his eyes bulging as I pressed him harder against the wall. My fury peaked when he said that she wasn't coming back and I threw him to the ground before stomping on his shoulder, snapping it like a twig as I sprinted towards Michael's safe haven, the only place I knew where I could hurt him as he had hurt me.

I came upon the concealed door in under a minute, using my newly heightened powers to aid my strides to make me run faster. I brushed my hand through the air and made the entire wall crumple to the side, revealing a pitch-black room to me with the blue stasis pod Sasha was sleeping in. I was breathing through my teeth as I walked towards her, ignoring the alarms blaring around me as I pushed just a fraction of my power away from me, letting me into the dormant lupine's thoughts and smiling wickedly as I erased every memory of the tender Michael she thought she loved and replaced them with what I had seen through Hazel's eyes and through the various test subjects still living in the complex.

"Fortune, what are you doing here? This place is restricted to everyone, even you." I heard Michael demand in shock. I turned my head in his direction and gave him an evil smile, my eyes glinting with power as I severed the ties that bound her coma to his pulse.

"Fortune doesn't exist anymore, Doc. You saw to that personally and now, I think I'll do the same to your precious Sasha. Seems you filled her head with lies and I brought it upon myself to show her the light of what you truly are." I replied with a laugh, pulling the probe from her head and turning fully to send him flying out of the room with a flick of my wrist. I walked out into the hall and felt a pinprick of discomfort against my head as he tried to force me into submission from where he was crouching. I laughed at his weak attempt and pulled him from where he was with a curled finger before sending him sprawling at the foot of the stasis pod with a single punch to the cheek, feeling the bone breaking beneath my punch.

"How does it feel to be on the weak end of things, Doc? How does it feel to be under the will of another?" I asked taking a couple of steps over in his direction, battering him on all sides with my power.

"Why do you even care about an insignificant woman's conscience? I thought that you would be happy to have your mind to yourself." He answered, making me grin darkly as I forced him onto his back and slowly crushed him down onto the floor.

"Why? Because, for once I had a friend, someone to whom I could confide my problems, share my dreams with. Even during my time in Hazel's body and mind, I longed for the kind of bond that she had with so many others and I had finally found that in Jessie. But you couldn't have that, could you? You see any sign of friendship or compassion as a weakness that needs to be erased! Well, lets see how you like it when your philosophy is directed to the one thing that you have ever shown kindness to!" I growled as I walked over to Sasha's stasis pod and smashed my fist into the control panel that regulated the amount of sedatives being distributed throughout her blood stream. I heard Michael shout at me to stop, but I was far beyond listening to anything he tried to tell me.

I hit the release valve on the side of the pod to drain the stasis gel out of it before ripping off the door and unfitting the oxygen mask from around her muzzle. I caught her as she fell and sat her down on the ground before sending a gentle shock of psionic energy running through her body to wake her up as well as loosen her limbs up enough to enable her to walk and move freely.

"Fortune stop! I demand you put her back. She's going to die outside of the pod." The fox yelled desperately, making me laugh.

"Didn't I tell you that Fortune doesn't exist anymore, Michael? You drove her out of my head and now I'll drive Sasha out of your life for good." I said idly as her eyes flickered open and her hand went to the spot where her heart was, a fearful look on her face as she tried to gather her surroundings.

"What… What's going on? Where am I?" She asked; looking from me to the prone figure of Michael splayed spread eagle on the ground with a look of growing curiosity. I eased on the flow of power coming from me and let him up with a dark laugh as I moved out of his way to let him scramble to her side.

"Sasha, Sasha do you know who I am? Do you remember my name?" He asked frantically, panic and hurt evident on his face as she cringed away from him and moved closer to where I was standing. She backed away from him until her back was against the stasis pod when he tried to crawl closer to her. I laughed harshly at his plight and offered her a hand.

"Would you like me to take you away from him, Sasha?" I asked, forcing him back down to the ground as he tried to lash out at me. She nodded once and took my hand in hers before I helped her to her feet.

"Umm, mind telling me why you aren't wearing any clothes?" She asked, making me remember that I had stormed off without getting dressed. I shrugged my shoulders and walked back towards my room with Sasha in tow. I found Xale sitting at the foot of the bed with a conflicted look on his face and wondered what he was thinking. I let Sasha sit next to him before walking over to my dresser and pulling out some jeans and a tank top. I slipped on my clothes and pulled on some black combat boots as I turned back to see Sasha looking expectantly at me while Xale was just watching curiously. I sighed and ran my metallic hand through my burgundy hair, feeling my powers still at their highest even as my rage and sorrow at the loss of my one best friend started going away.

"So what do we do now?" I asked, giving the question to Xale, missing the second opinion I always asked for in the privacy of my own head.

_**I think we should leave while we can…**_I heard Jessie voice her opinion.

_I guess you're right- wait, what the hell?! Jessie you're still in my head? _ I asked in shock, my eyes going wide in surprise. I heard her laugh but wasn't given another chance to talk to her when the alarms started picking up again, this time much louder and of a much deeper tone. Xale stood up and walked over to me before wrapping me in a protective hug and nuzzling his muzzle onto my forehead.

"Guess the guys upstairs aren't to happy about your upheaval, love. Should we give them a nice welcome?" He asked with a smile. I smiled back and returned his hug before feeling my powers grow even more, making me experience a sort of adrenaline high go through my body. I tilted my head up to meet his and gave him a loving kiss on the lips before pulling away from him.

"When don't we?" I asked with a laugh as I looked at Sasha, who was already standing at the doorway and looking out into the hallway. _Hey Jessie, ready to go?_ I asked, walking out into the hall and throwing my arms wide in welcome to the assembly of soldiers waiting for us at the other end.

_**Yep and I'm going to enjoy every minute of this. **_She replied as I heard the clicks of guns being aimed in my direction.

"Welcome to my home. Sorry, I didn't have time to clean up for you, but I think your blood will do nicely to cover up the sterile walls and give this place a somewhat more inviting allure." I said apologetically as I appeared in the middle of the twelve-man squad, making some of them jump with my sudden appearance. I formed a three-pronged circular glaive in my metallic hand and plunged it into the nearest guard's chest, sending blood spurting everywhere as I sliced across and out of his body with a sickening crunch as the weapon came free of the bone and armor plating. I gripped the pistol he had been holding as it fell out of his limp hand and put a few rounds into two other guards' skulls before sending a shockwave of psionic energy blasting out from around me, sending the rest of them smashing into the walls and snapping their spines on the hard unforgiving steel walls. I holstered the pistol in the waistband of my jeans and made the glaive disappear back into my hand before striding purposefully towards the elevator I thought that the guards had come out of. I hit the call button and tapped my foot to the beat of a song I had listened to recently before hearing Xale and Sasha coming up behind me. I turned my head slightly and saw that she had picked up a dropped G-36C and he had one of his combat knives in hand.

"It always pays to be well prepared." She said with a shrug as the elevator doors dinged open. We stepped in and I hit the button for the hanger bay. The elevator doors closed shut with a metallic thud and the gears for the pulley system groaned to life as the cabin started lurching upwards, making me wonder if it had been used in the last twenty years. About halfway up the elevator shaft, the elevator gave out and left us stranded on the twelfth floor. I put my hand on the doors and pushed them open with barely any force on my part, keeping them open long enough for all of us to get through before letting the doors close again with a slam. I turned around and found myself looking at a long, sterile smelling hallway with white washed walls and harsh halogen lights beaming down on everything. I put my hand out to stop Xale and Sasha from proceeding as I spotted the thin beams of turrets crisscrossing the entire length of the hall. I smirked and turned around to rip one of the doors off of the elevator before tossing it into a few of the lines. The turrets activated with a musical ding before plasma rained down on the door and disintegrated it in a matter of seconds.

"Seems they aren't taking any chances with our escape, are they?" I laughed as I walked out into the beam of the first turret. It beeped online and I heard the gun whirring in the wall as it started aiming at me. I put my hand up in its direction before balling my hand into a fist. The turret flew out of the wall and I tossed it down the hallway to get disposed of by the rest of the turrets. I climbed up into the hole that the turret had made and found myself in a relatively dark corridor with emergency strips glowing from underneath the gantry providing the only light. I moved out of the way for the others to come in and sprinted as quietly as I could towards the ladder at the end of the walkway.

"You'd think they would make this more of a challenge, wouldn't you?" Xale asked as I looked over the edge to the waiting pool of acid below.

"You just had to go and say that didn't you?" I teased as I grabbed the rungs and started climbing upwards towards the upper levels, measuring my pace so that I wouldn't slip and fall.

It took me and the others awhile to climb the ladder to the other floors and it took even longer for me to break the maintenance hatch that led to the fourth floor parking garage. I let the hatch fall to the ground below and quickly followed, dropping down to a loose crouch before sprinting to the cover of a nearby car. I peeked out from over the hood and spotted recon drones flying around looking for us while guards were combing all over the place.

_**Should we make as big of an entrance as possible or should we be subtle and sneak around?**_ I heard Jessie ask with a hint of sarcasm as I put my hand on the hood for good leverage.

_Now where would be the fun in sneaking around? _I asked back as I vaulted onto the hood and let out a loud whistle that caught the attention of a few guards nearby while the recon drones turned to flash pictures of me.

"Looking for me, boys?" I asked innocently as I pulled out my pistol and shot down a few of the drones before I leapt down off of the car with a flourish of the gun before spinning it on my finger. I watched the guards sprinting towards me with their guns drawn. I laughed and stopped the pistol with the grip in my hand before putting my other hand forward to put a shield infront of me that kept the bullets from getting anywhere near me. I let the power recede back into my body and pointed the muzzle of the pistol at a car to ricochet the bullet off the door and hit one of the guards in the neck, sending him tripping to the ground as he died. I put the spent gun back into my pocket and formed a long stiletto knife in my hand before rushing at the group of guards standing in awe of the shot I had just made. I jumped into the group and quickly pierced the nearest guard underneath the chin through his brain before pushing the rest of them out from away from me, making them stumble and run into the cars around in the parking lot.

I pulled the knife from the guard's head with a spurt of blood from the wound and quickly flipped the knife so that the blade was resting in between my fingers before throwing it into the skull of the one farthest away. I pulled out the two Glock 9mm pistols that the guard had in his holsters and brandished the automatic pistols around me before kicking the dead guard down and spinning around to mow down every single guard around me, each one getting a shot to the head and the heart before I finished spinning. I emptied the clips of the spent guns and heard them clatter to the ground as I knelt down next to the dead guard and pulled out extra clips for four of these guns from his pockets before rearming the pistols and dropping them into my pockets. I walked over to one of the recon drones and picked it up to find the recording light still on. I flashed the camera lens a bright smile with all of my teeth showing while my eyes flashed to a reflective crimson.

"This is a formal warning to each and every one of you working for this company: I will come back for you and I will kill you. There will be no mercy and there will be no leniency for anyone who stays to fight me. Also, Hazel will be coming with me as well when I come back, so Michael, for I know you are watching this or will see this sooner or later. Both of us are coming for revenge and I promise you now, IT WILL NOT BE SWIFT." I growled disgustedly as I laughed for the camera and dropped it onto the ground before crushing it to the size of a soda can. I looked up and let out a loud roar as power raged inside of me, pulsing in the air around me as I let my powers run my body for a few seconds before regaining control and my eyes returning to the sky blue they were originally. I let myself laugh aloud for a minute and felt that adrenaline high return as I heard more footsteps running in my direction. I looked over my shoulder and smiled in Xale and Sasha's direction before turning around to find that they were running from something. I heard heavy, metallic thuds following them and allowed a bright grin to splay across my lips as I watched a mech stomping from around a corner.

"**MUST TERMINATE TP-555 AND HP-777." **It called out in a robotic voice as its laser sight painted a dot on my stomach before moving it up to my forehead. I watched the Guardian Eyes spider mech storm over to me and put my infected hand out away from me to let a long scythe form in my paw, the gleaming silver blade glinting evilly in the searchlights on the mech. I twirled the scythe lazily in my fingers as I walked around the mech as I took in every detail of the eight-legged spider-like mech, from the matte black finish to the eight sensory orbs on the canopy of the head and the heavy caliber machine guns on the two arms protruding from its sides.

"Wow… I can't remember the last time someone called me by my experimental name. Hey Xale," I called over my shoulder with a smirk on my muzzle. "Leave this one to me. Need to get the kinks out of my system. Go get a car and I'll catch up." I smirked as I took the scythe and cut down a missile pod that had been launched at me. I turned to face the mech fully and ran towards it full tilt, dodging in between gunfire before sprinting through its legs and slicing up into its underbelly, only to get stopped by a scorpion tail that had come out of nowhere and feel it slam into my stomach to knock me out from under it.

I did a couple of handsprings before jumping back onto my feet and grinned, as I tasted blood on my lips. I giggled and dragged the scythe along the ground, sending up sparks behind me as I ran at a slower rate before jumping onto its gun arm and slicing the tail tip off for it to writhe on the ground, oil spurting out of the tail as it flailed erratically behind it. I saw the 'eyes' turn in my direction as I jumped on the head and grinned evilly as I brought the scythe up before embedding it deep in the CPU at the top of its head. I gathered an immense amount of psionic energy in my hand before slamming it into the mech, making a sizable hole in it that went straight through and made a crater in the ground underneath. I pulled my scythe out of the mech and gave it a last kick to make it fly back a few feet before crashing into a support pillar, sparks coming out of the severed tail and the holes in its head before it shut down and collapsed on the ground. I spit out some blood and balanced the staff of the scythe against my shoulder before throwing my head back and laughing happily.

"Is that the best you can do, Sunshade? I barely broke a sweat!" I yelled, getting a resoundingly happy cheer from Jessie as she yelled with me. I heard the sound of tires squealing and turned in that direction to find that a pair of headlights were glaring at me. I shielded my eyes and waved the scythe in Xale's direction when I heard a mechanical whirring as the mech struggled to get back up. I turned and tossed the scythe up to grab it on the end of the staff before sending it spinning into the middle of the mech, pinning it to the pillar before turning off again. I walked over to the car and smirked in their direction as I ran my fingers over the smooth hood, leaving an oil streak up to the window as I made my way to the back seat.

"Enjoy yourself?" Xale asked as I stretched out on the comfortable back seat and let my head rest against the door while my feet were crossed at the other end.

"You know I did. Couldn't you have picked a subtler car? I mean a Montgomery S65? Let me guess, you couldn't resist, could you?" I asked as I made as much of a mess as I could on the back seat from the oil that had sprayed off of the mech.

"Hey, I happen to like this car and I don't think we have another choice at the moment." Sasha commented as a loud explosion sounded around the car, making it rock slightly as the shockwave hit us.

"Seems that is our cue to exit." I said as Xale stomped on the gas and sent us rocketing forward, though I didn't feel it thanks to the slight cushion of energy I had between me and the seat itself.

_**Why is it that wherever you go, things have to explode and we end up running for our lives? **_Jessie asked incredulously as she crossed her arms mentally and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. I closed my eyes and let myself go into a meditative state with my arms crossed behind my head, blocking out all noise around me and letting my powers relax my body.

_I opened my eyes and found myself staring at Jessie in the face, her sky blue eyes glittering slightly as she stared into my crimson ones. _

_**How nice of you to come visit me again, love… **__She grinned as I sat up and blew a strand of my black hair out of my face. I turned and was met with her lips pressed against mine, her hand coming up to cup my cheek. I pulled away after a minute or two and grinned at her as I turned around fully and crossed my legs with my hands folded in my lap. _

"_So you gonna tell me or what?" I asked. _

_**Tell you what?**__ She asked back._

"_How you stayed in my head? Both James and Michael said that the shot James had given me was supposed to get rid of your personality completely. I have to tell you, if that had happened, I would've gone crazy with just myself to talk to in my head. I know it must seem weird from the bitch you saw me as when I was with Hazel, but it was only because I was longing for something and she wouldn't give it to me. You did and I will never go back to just talking to myself in my head." I said, feeling tears come to my eyes as I spilled my heart to the woman sitting infront of me. _

_She was wearing what she had been when I first came into her mind and took over her body: a plain black t-shirt that hugged to her upper torso snuggly to show off her ample bust and a pair of black and red trippants with chains going through the belt loops to the pockets. Her burgundy hair hung loosely around her face and framed her slightly blushing cheeks well, making her eyes even more attractive. I looked down to see her hand close over mine and I looked up to see that she was smiling. _

_**I stayed because you wanted me to. I was surprised when you were so broken up about me not talking back to you, and I wanted to tell you that they were lying, that I was still there, but I couldn't get through to you. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you through it, but I'm here for you now and I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon. **__Jessie replied as she cradled my cheek in the palm of her hand. _

"_You have no idea how happy that makes me feel to hear you say that, Jessie." I said quietly as I threw my arms around her and hugged her close to me, my tears running down my cheeks and my heart beating happily. _

_I was never going to let her go._


	4. Change of Plan

I drove the jeep up to the front of the hotel and climbed out to be greeted by the bright, noonday sun shining down on my head. I covered my eyes with my hand to compensate for the glare and looked around at the peaceful enough scene, feeling a sort of sympathy for the naïve people having fun, completely unaware of the horrible things that went on in the universe around them. I turned around with a sigh and watched Xale and his 'friend' climb out of the jeep with their hands clasped and looking happily at each other. I walked over to the doors that led to the hotel lobby to wait for Ken to catch up with us and sat down on the ground with my back against the wall, my knees drawn up slightly as I rested my arms on them.

I watched a few couples walk by and even saw a few families, but when I watched a family of foxes pass by, I couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse at the fact that the only family I had now was someone who wanted to have me dead. I heaved a heavy sigh and wallowed a little in my own self-pity when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

"Mind if I sit here with you?" She asked. I shook my head and stared at the ground as she sat next to me, making sure not to look anywhere near her.

"Why are you being so friendly? When you were inside my body, you were trying to take over me every chance you could get. If anything, I thought you would try to kill me the next time you saw me." I asked, my curiosity being roused a little. She sighed lightheartedly and looked over at me before running a hand through her hair.

"I'm being friendly because my host body has very strong feelings for kindness and friendliness. Had you met me during the first few months of my time in this body, I would've gladly killed you, but now, I doubt I could bring myself to do it. I will fight against Sunshade for what they have done to Jessie, but I will never fight for you." She said with a playful laugh before looking up at the ceiling and letting the sun shimmer off of her infected hand.

"Jessie?"

"Yes, the body I inhabit has a name. Her full name is Fortune Sakura Hewley, but she likes to be called Jessie. She is actually quite the intellectual if you get to know her, remind me to introduce you two sometime." She answered before smiling at me.

"So what do you call yourself?" I asked.

"Demise. That is what I call myself."

"Your project name?"

"No, I chose that name. My project name is Fallen Angel, while Xale's is the Beast." She replied while looking at the lixer leaning against jeep, a loving look in her eyes while I looked on with a confused glance.

"So you two love each other, huh?" I asked, my brain still trying to wrap around the idea of the parasite that had tried to take over my body and make it her own was now in love with my altered old flame.

"Yeah… he is a terribly nice person and now I know why you fell for him in the first place." She said as she sighed affectionately, making my confusion grow. "What about you? Do you have a new flame or are you still with Jasper?"

I blushed a little and inwardly berated myself for feeling embarrassed about talking about my love life. "I do… his name is Felix." I replied bluntly while looking away to keep her from seeing my blush. She laughed a little and I heard the loud roar of Ken's car as it drove up behind the jeep. I made to get up when she put her hand on my shoulder and I turned my head to look down at her.

"Are we going to be on good terms from now on or are we going to be having awkward silences and quiet hatred for one another?" Demise asked, making me really think about my answer. I nodded my head hesitantly and gave her a small smile as I walked over to Ken's car. He got out and gave me a knowing grin as he tossed me his duffle bag.

"You definitely didn't hold out on the money you spent on this vacation. This place is huge!" He grinned, making me laugh as I slung his bag over my shoulder and walked into the lobby.

"Yeah, well, when you have as much money as we do, you tend to not hold out on pleasure and relaxation." I grinned back as I continued past the receptionist, a bored looking mink who was reading a book, and pressed the call button for the elevator.

"Excuse me, miss," A velvety voice asked me from my right. I looked in the direction the voice had come from and found myself staring at a black furred cat in what looked to be light body armor they used in sparring matches with red stripes running the length of the sleeves and legs. " But you seemed to have dropped this." He produced my cell phone from behind his back and I stared in surprise as I took it back.

"Umm, thanks." I replied as the elevator opened. He flashed me a welcoming smile and hitched the bag on his back a little higher before walking off, leaving me to wonder who he was and why I had an inkling that I'd seen him before. I shook the feeling from me and walked into the elevator with the others before hitting the touching the icon for the top floor on the screen.

_Who was that and how did he get my phone? I know I didn't drop it but if he had taken it from me, I would've felt it easily. It just doesn't seem to make any sense… _I mused as the elevator moved on its gravtracks up to the top floor suite. The trip didn't take that long and I was snapped out of my thoughts when the doors opened with a ding. I walked out into the sterile white washed entry room and produced my hand from my pocket before letting a small current run through my finger before drawing a circle around the door handle that led into the suite.

_**Bioelectrical signature confirmed. Welcome to your suite, Ms. Eros… **_A pleasant voice chimed as the door slid up into the ceiling. I walked into the living room and tossed the duffle bag back to Ken before dropping to my knees in a crouch as Dante flew over my head and hit the wall hard.

"DAMNIT DANTE!!!!" Maxi yelled as she stormed out of the master bedroom, her eyes alight with anger and a bed sheet clutched around her body like a shawl while her Raptor semi-automatic pistol was in her other hand. I got up and motioned for the others to lay low before walking over to tend to Dante's wounded arm.

"Thanks… Hazel." He mumbled while his hand was clapped against his forehead, a trail of blood trickling past his pinky.

"Mind telling me what you did to get Maxi all riled up like that?" I asked as she glared darkly at him and stalked back into their room before slamming the door shut behind her. He looked sheepishly at me and scratched the back of his head with a slight frown on his lips. It took me a second to realize what had happened and slapped him hard across the face. I jumped to my feet and hurried off to their room before knocking on it gently.

"Dante if that's you I swear I'm going to kill you where you stand!" She called out angrily and I knew she wasn't kidding when I heard her fit a clip into her pistol.

"No, Dawn, its me. Can I come in?" I asked softly before leveling a withering glare in his direction, making him squirm under my gaze and nurse his burning cheek. The door opened enough to let me slip into the room and kicked it closed with my foot to find her sitting on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands. I sat down next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders before hugging her gently to me.

"Why now? Amid all this trouble and stuff, this has to happen… why, Hazel?" She asked with tears on her cheeks as she looked up at me.

"Maybe it was meant to happen, Maxi. Have you thought about that?" I asked, making her cry a little harder.

"But if I do have it, then it won't look anything like him. Then he'll hate me and I won't be able keep him on the team just so I could stay away from his judgmental stares." She sobbed before looking down at her gun. I took it from her and slipped the clip out of it before throwing both pieces into the corner of the room and gripping her shoulders.

"Maxi, listen to me: Dante is insanely in love with you and no matter what your baby looks like, he will love you and your child until he dies. There is nothing you could do to push him away and you need to realize that." I said forcefully, looking her in the eyes and staring angrily into them. There was a knock at the door and I got up to open it to find Dante standing there with his head down and his hands wringing nervously infront of his stomach.

"Hazel… could you give me and Maxi a minute alone? I… I want to talk to her about something." He murmured quietly. I nodded and put a hand on his shoulder before squeezing it comfortingly and walking back into the living room before feeling my phone vibrate against my leg. I pulled it out and found a number I didn't recognize flashing on the screen.

"Hello? Who is this?" I asked as I walked over to the balcony to get some privacy.

"Hello Hazel, how nice to be speaking to you again." The velvety voice of the cat from the lobby said, making my breath catch in my throat and my heart start skipping.

"How did you get this number?" I asked pointedly, contemplating turning on the tracer built into the main housing.

"Oh, don't worry about that, my dear Hazel. And don't waste your time with that little tracer program you have in your phone, because you would only end up with a payphone to find." He chuckled, the sound grating against my nerves as I gripped the railing infront of me.

"Fine then, what do you want with me?" I asked through my teeth, which earned another annoying chuckle from him.

"It isn't what I want with you, Hazel, but what my leader wants. You see, he has been watching your growth progressively and he now realizes that sending you away in such a fashion was a good thing. He thinks you are ready for the task he had been thinking up for you." He replied, making me remember who this leader was and thought about breaking the phone in my grip, but I kept my anger at bay and steadied my breathing to calm myself down.

"What makes you think I will do anything for the dragon that shot me through a portal and dropped me off in the middle of a desert? I'm sorry but I would have to say that no is my answer and you can tell your boss to shove it." I said before hanging up the phone and shoving it into my pocket before sighing through my teeth and sending electricity sparking off the metal all along the edge of the balcony.

"Hazel, are you alright?" I heard a concerned voice ask as arms wrapped around my waist and a tail wrapped its way gently around my ankle. I relaxed my grip on the railing and leaned back into Felix's grasp, relishing in the warmth that radiated off his chest through his shirt.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little angry that's all, but nothing a night with you won't fix." I murmured back as I looked out over the view to the beach and its pristine waters. He rubbed my stomach gently in a lazy circle and I murred at the feel of the impromptu massage as he tickled my belly button with the tip of his finger.

"I've missed this, being close to you and all." He whispered near my ear as he nuzzled my cheek softy, making me smile and cover his hand with mine while my tail wrapped around his thigh.

"Am I interrupting something?" Demise asked cheerfully before she walked over with a bright smile on her face. I shook my head and got out of his embrace before introducing him.

"Felix, this is Demise, the physical embodiment of the virus that used to be inside of me." I told him with a motion in her direction with my hand. I felt his body tense next to me and I couldn't help but feel a sort of thrill of humor run through me.

"Its nice to meet you, Felix." She said as she offered him her hand. He shook it hesitantly and looked over at me with a confused look. I read the question on his face and shrugged my shoulders as an answer before remembering the holo-disk in my pocket that I had taken from the leopard I had killed.

"Hey Demise… did someone from Sunshade try and contact you or recapture you recently?" I asked; slipping my hand into my pocket and pulling out the disk, the semi-translucent film letting a slightly blue circle play along the wall as the sun went through it.

"Besides the soldiers they sent after me and Xale, no I can't say there have been. Sasha might know something I'm forgetting, but I haven't been able to get in touch with her since yesterday." She murmured as she closed her eyes in thought.

"Sasha? You mean, Sasha from the facility in the mountains Sasha?" I asked, shock clearly written on my face.

"Yeah. You didn't think I would leave her there to that madman Michael did you?" She asked with a smirk before running her metallic hand through her hair absentmindedly. "Anyway, she'll have something else to say about that cause I think she's been doing well with the friends who came to find us."

"Define friends." I pushed, feeling a sense of foreboding settle on my shoulders as I looked at the disc in my hands.

"Bella and her new 'captain' Wolf O'Donnell." She answered with a bright smile as she looked at the swelling surf.

"You've got to be kidding me?" I said with a shake of my head as I leaned against the railing and stared up at the sky, watching a shuttle scoot lazily across the sky with a bemused look on my face.

"Nope, though she would be the most likely of suspects to try and get you a message." Demise replied, making me remember the disc in my hand.

"I guess if it is from Bella, then I don't have much choice than to watch the disc, huh?" I muttered as I pushed off the railing and walked back into the air-conditioned living room to find Ken and Xale arm wrestling on the coffee table.

"HA!" Ken cried triumphantly as he smashed the lixer's hand down onto the table and made it crack audibly.

"Wow Xale, you got beat by Ken? That sucks." I laughed as he glared at him then me as he handed over a couple of credits.

"Lucky break." He muttered before noticing the disc in my hand. "What's that?"

"Well if you let me put it in, you'll find out." I said as I walked over to the TV and slipped the disc into a slot on the side. The screen flickered to life without me having had to turn it on and I watched as a superimposed Sasha came up on the screen. The camera wiggled slightly as the wolfess tried to adjust it.

"C'mon, C'mon. There. That's better." She muttered to herself before running her hand through her hair. There was a bandanna around her forehead to hold some of it back and the fur beneath her right eye was colored a blue like Bella's fur. "Hazel, if you've gotten this, then you must already be in company with Demise and Xale." She sighed and gave them a tired smile.

"Is it up yet?" A feminine voice called out from off screen.

"Of course it is." The wolfess said with a nod before she moved it so that Bella came on screen, though she looked drastically different. Her hair had been let to grow out so that it was flowing over her shoulders and a necklace was draped around her neck that reminded me of the one Krystal used to wear, but a little less bulky and with silver chain and a topaz gemstone set into it instead of a ruby.

"Hey, Hazey. Guess you didn't expect to be seeing me again anytime soon, but this is more of an ask for help than a friendly call. Seems your friend Demise kicked the hornet's nest when she and Xale left the Sunshade compound. I've been monitoring it for a friend and lets just say that they want their prized possessions back. If you get this, then, and I hate to ask this, but I'm going to have to ask you to come out to the coordinates given and give me and Wolf a hand. " She said sheepishly before looking off at something off screen.

"Bells, you comin' or what?" A gruff voice called out.

"Hold up, Wolf." She called back before looking at the screen. "I've got to go now, but Sasha'll take care of the coordinates and such. See ya later Hazey." The vixen said with a wink and blew a kiss before turning the camera back to the wolfess and the sound of her footsteps could be heard receding off and a door hissing open and shut.

"Well, Hazel. I may not know you as well as she or Demise do, but they say you're worth trusting, so I guess I'll have to trust them." She sighed and tapped something onto a keyboard and gave us one last look before the feed was cut and replaced with a page of coordinates and images of where we were supposed to go.

"Aw hell, we have to go there?" Ken groaned as he got up to look at the pictures of the base.

"Looks like it, Ken. You aren't afraid, are you?" Xale replied as he punched the squirrel in the side lightly. I sighed and stared at the pictures before something caught my eye in the reflection of the screen. I turned to see what it was, but they were gone when I looked.

_Weird. First the cat, now this. What does that dragon want with me?_ I wondered. The door to Maxi and Dante's room opened and we all went quiet when they came out fully clothed with distressed looks on their faces, but Maxi was doing a good job of not showing what was bothering her.

"Okay guys. Here's what's going to happen. Dante and I are going to be indisposed for awhile, so as of this moment, you all have to answer to Hazel. I don't care if you don't like the arrangement, but there are a few things we have to take care of and she is the most experienced of us here, aside from Felix. I trust none of you have a problem with that?" She asked, as if daring the others to say something. When no one said anything, she nodded and they went out the front door to the waiting elevator. As soon as they left, I felt everyone's eyes on me and I didn't like the feel of being in the spotlight, so to speak. I took a deep breath and sighed before turning back to everyone.

"Well, I guess I get to be in charge of our group then. Great." I muttered sullenly before sitting down on the coffee table.

"It won't be that bad, will it Hazel? I mean you'll get to boss us around and stuff." Ken said with a grin as I imagined the look on his face, the dreamy expression he got when he was usually fantasizing about things. I smirked slightly and whipped my hand around to catch him in the stomach, making him double over and gasp for breath.

"You know, it might be a good thing after all." I muttered as I got up and turned to face my new crewmates. "All right then. If you're going to be under my supervision, then I have three things to say. One: I will treat everyone fairly because you all have something to bring to the table. Two: I won't be a slave driver and make you do things I wouldn't do, so everyone is doing their fair amount of chores, including myself. And thirdly, Ken: If I catch you trying to sneak into mine or Demise's room to take a shower with either of us, we're going to play a little game I like to call tag the squirrel. Got it?" I stared at Ken calmly and caught his fearful look at what I had in mind.

"You don't mean?"

"Oh I do." I muttered deviously as I held up my hand and let electricity crackle at my fingertip. He gulped and straightened up before looking at everyone with smiles on their faces, Xale with dark energy brimming at his fingertips, Demise with heat hazes covering both her hands and Felix with a dark blue-white flame burning on his hand. "If you thought me shocking you was bad, then wait till the rest of them join in."

"Okay you made you point loud and clear, Hazel. I won't take a shower with anyone unless they agree to it." He muttered, sticking his hands into his pockets and eyeing us warily.

"Good, now that that's taken care of, we should be heading over to the Nomad to get over to the Sargasso system as fast as possible." I said with a clap of my hands. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and called down to the receptionist's desk to tell them that we were leaving and hung up before walking back out onto the balcony to look up at the clouds.

I couldn't believe I was being asked for help by someone who I thought was in no need of help. But that was exactly what was happening and that set off my inbred paranoia. Bella never needed help in the past when I had known her, but that was when I was less experienced and not as attentive. Everything about the transmission screamed trap, but she was my friend and I had to help her.

"Well, if I'm going to be walking willingly into a trap, then I'm going with guns blazing." I muttered beneath my breath and looked up at the sky with a dark, menacing grin on my muzzle.

Sometimes, it was good to be malevolent.

_**This is a shorter chapter than I usually write, but I think it'll get the job done. Anyway, the rest of this story is going to be in the third person. Also, I don't own Xale or that cat from the lobby, but he'll be revealed, among others, in the later chapters.**_


	5. Relaxation

Hazel looked over the black hull of the Nomad and sighed through her teeth, running a hand through her hair and waiting for the others to get ready. She had already decided that Ken was going to pilot the ship and do the computer work, Demise and Xale would take care of the weapons and tactics while she and Felix would work on maintenance and CQC (Close Quarters Combat) to teach to the rest of them. She blew a strand of hair from infront of her eyes and sighed again as she let the sounds of the docking station for the city of New Haven wash over her.

She sometimes did this, falling into a sort of deep concentration that made it seem as if she were asleep. It helped her think over what she had to do and what she had in life; her friends, the legacy she had taken up when she had embraced her Rapturian heritage, the love she felt for Felix and everything else in her life. She even thought of Michael, the uncle she had never known but despised for almost taking her life. But as she thought about him, she realized that he, just like everyone else in the universe, had a place in the grand scheme of things.

She wasn't what you would call religious, but she did believe in a something grander than them, something that dictated what was right and wrong.

As she stood there, pondering over her life and her task at hand, she failed to notice the people gawking at her as they passed. Most of the ones in surprise were human, for most of them had never seen a black furred vixen before and forgot to keep their mouths closed. But a small amount of them were gawking in awe, for they knew her and her reputation. When one of the tourists, a teenager of about sixteen, asked who she was, his friend, a ferret, smirked and threw his arm over his shoulder.

"That vixen right there?" He asked, pointing at her as they walked off the transport ship. The teen nodded and found that he couldn't keep his eyes off her.

"Yeah, who is she?"

The ferret laughed and looked at her with respect shining in his eyes.

"That is Hazel Eros. She's the newest member of the mercenary squadron The Forgotten Ones." He said as he steered him over to her. He tapped her on the arm and she looked around with a look in her eyes that came from a couple of years of trying to keep herself alive; a look that made her a much better shot than a certain avian she knew. "Excuse me, miss Eros?"

She looked down at him and gave him a soft smile before turning around to face them fully. "Yes?" The teen couldn't help but stare at her in slight awe.

"It's nothing really, but my friend was wondering who you were, seeing as he's new to this star system and all." He replied, giving his friend a slight shake to make him come out of his stupor.

"Um… yeah, I just wanted to see you for myself, that's all." He whispered nervously, his cheeks flushed crimson with embarrassment. She smiled and gave him a pat on the cheek.

"Well, do I live up to your expectations?" She asked with a giggle. He nodded, which made her laugh. "Well, I'm glad and I hope you enjoy your stay in New Haven, boys." The two walked off after they had told her goodbye and she noticed that the teen had looked back at her more than once. She gave him a smile and a wave before she noticed some of the crowd watching her with funny looks. She shrugged and went to find Demise to talk to her for a while.

She walked onto the ship's cargo hold and found Ken looking at some readings on a monitor with a digital clipboard in his hand.

"So, we ready leave yet or not, Ken?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind teasingly, knowing he would react to it. He shivered at the sudden closeness and turned his head to look at her as she let go of him.

"I gotta tell you, Hazel, this is probably one of the most sophisticated pieces of machinery I have ever had the pleasure of working on. I'm so glad that you let me come with you." He replied. "And yes, before you ask, that does mean we're ready to go. That is, unless we have anything else that can fit in here." He added. She patted him on the back and went off to tell the rest of the crew that they were going to be leaving soon.

He watched her leave and sighed as he watched her go, wishing that he could be the one she had fallen for but he shrugged his shoulders and went back to work.

Hazel walked the halls of the Nomad and wondered where everyone was. She checked in the sparring room and found no one there. The same with the bridge, the kitchen, the observation deck, the med bay and anywhere else she could think of. She was about to head back to the bridge to run a scan of the ship when she heard a moaning from her bedroom. She rolled her eyes and kicked the panel next to her door.

As it slid out of place, it revealed a full set of paintball accessories and a paintball gun that looked strikingly similar to the M-16. She slipped a paint grenade out of the cooled compartment and waited for the panel to slide back before pulling the pin.

"THIS IS MY ROOM, XALE!!!!" She yelled loudly as she kicked the door open and tossed it into the room before diving out of the way of the blast, hot pink paint spraying all over everything and everyone in the room. She picked herself up and looked into the room with a smile on her face as she took stock of the damage.

Everything was covered in paint, from the bed to the ceiling to the door in the corner that led to the bathroom. But what made her laugh was the completely drenched form of Demise as she had been straddling the unlucky lixer's hips and was glaring daggers at her.

"You have three seconds to leave Hazel or I'm coming for you." She growled, already getting off of Xale to enact her threat.

"Then don't be doing the nasty in my room." She replied with a look of innocence on her face as she stuck her tongue out at her. Demise climbed off him and jumped off the bed before chasing her out of the room, pink paint trailing after them as she chased her around the ship. Hazel ran back outside and grabbed onto the side of the cargo bay door to slingshot herself onto the emergency ladder on the side of the ship before climbing to the top, finding Felix sitting at the nose of the ship. She quickly made her way over to him and sat next to him with her legs trailing over the edge of the ship, giggling to herself when she heard Demise cry out in annoyance as she looked around for her.

"I'M GOING TO GET YOU BACK FOR THIS, HAZEL!!!" She yelled as she stomped back into the bowels of the ship to get cleaned up. Hazel sighed to herself happily and lay down onto the slightly curving slope of the ship's cockpit, enjoying the bright summer sun.

"What's wrong, Felix?" She asked. He sighed and drew his knees up to rest his arms on them, his eyes still having that far away look they usually got when he was in deep concentration.

"Nothing really… just a little concerned about this Sunshade business, that's all." He said as he looked back at her from the corner of his eye. She sat up and gently moved his arm so that she could wriggle underneath it and be next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist gently and leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Well, its not like we haven't tangled with Sunshade before." She whispered quietly, enjoying the view to the ocean ahead of them.

"I know and that's what's bothering me about this time. Instead of coming after all of us, they come only after you. That isn't there style. They go for complete and utter evisceration to make sure that they aren't in a position to be traced back to, yet they leave you, Demise, Ken and Xale alive. Why would they do that?" He asked with a slight strain of frustration in his voice as he looked off into the distance, his mind trying to come up with different reasons for why they would want them alive.

"I know its hard… wait, you don't think they want me back do you?" Hazel murmured with a slight twinge of fear bubbling up in her stomach at the thought of going back to the mercy of Michael when she had so nearly lost her life the first time they had met. He looked down at her in alarm and held her to him tighter.

"Even if they do, I won't let them take you, Hazel. Not unless they can kill me first and we both know that won't happen." Felix said with a small, reassuring smile as he gently nuzzled her hair, enjoying her scent greatly and wanting more of it but held his urges at bay.

"Hey, sorry to ruin the love fest, Hazel, but the ship's ready to go." Ken called up from the cargo bay. Hazel ignored him for the time being and gave Felix a brief kiss on the lips before getting out of their embrace and standing up to leave when he grabbed her hand gently.

"Mind if I walk with you?" He asked with a grin. She smiled back and intertwined their fingers.

"Why, I'd be insulted if you didn't." She said in mock indignation.

They made it to the bridge in a couple of minutes and found Demise and Xale already sitting in the gunner positions, the former still glaring at Hazel as she walked in. They both were in a new change of clothes and, much to Hazel's amusement, they were from her closet.

"Aw, still haven't forgiven me for that little paint bath I gave you?" She asked.

"Nope, though I wouldn't stand there if I were you." Demise warned. Felix looked up and dove out of the way in time to dodge the worst of the time released paint downpour that she had set up ahead of time when the two of them were sitting on the roof. Hazel was soon drenched head to toe with a multitude of pink paints and then, as if to top it off, there was a shower of confetti and a recorded fanfare blasted out of the surround sound speakers. She wiped the paint from her face and melted the rest of it off with a concentrated burst of flames from every pore of her body, restraining the flow to just the immediate area within a few centimeters off of her clothes to save the instruments on the bridge from prolonged heat exposure.

"That was a nice little revenge prank, Demi. But just so you know, I know the ins and outs of this ship just about as well as the person who built it, so be careful where you walk from now on." She challenged playfully as she took her seat near the door and propped her feet up on a nearby dashboard, giving her a smile that most didn't see. She blinked in confusion before giving her a smile back.

"Thanks for the heads up, Hazey." She replied, eyeing her calmly. Hazel nodded at her and looked at the viewing screen ahead of them.

"Alright, Kenny, whenever you're ready." She said. He smirked and input the commands for the engines to ignite as well as sending the hailing commands to the control tower. When he got the green light and the grav tethers were unclamped from the wings and hull of the ship, they listened to the engines as they warmed up.

"**Nomad this is control tower. Blast shields have been lowered behind your ship. You have clearance to go." **A robotic voice droned over their comms unit. Ken looked back at the others and smirked a little as his finger hung just barely over the warp drive toggle switch.

"What do you say guys, we give them a little show of force before we go?" He asked. Hazel knew she would regret doing this later and Maxi would have her head for it, but she nodded anyway.

"Why not? Go for it." She laughed as she strapped herself in. The others did the same and he flipped another switch next to his left hand that brought up an old-fashioned flight stick from the floor infront of him. He put on his custom made flight glasses and had them uplink to the ship's computers to find that the engines were one hundred percent primed and ready for anything they could dish out.

"Lets light this sucker!" He cried as he flipped up the warp drive toggle and pulled up sharply on the flight stick.

For a ship that is in a class above a Cornerian Class A Battle Cruiser in terms of both firepower and speed yet about three times smaller, the Nomad is about as nimble in flight as a hummingbird.

As soon as he pulled up on the flight stick, the ship had already cleared about seven miles of sea space before he had even felt the acceleration shock pound him back into the seat like a rag doll. The ship shot up into the stratosphere of the planet and then punched its way through space towards the Sargasso sector, which was about a week's worth of travel through hyperspace. Unbeknownst to them, however, they had picked up a stowaway after Ken had gone off to finish flight prep on the bridge.

After the ship decelerated enough for them to move freely, Ken took off his glasses and exhaled his breath with a long, loud whistle.

"Damn! I never thought a ship like this could have such a kick! I'm SO glad I'm pilot!" He cried happily as he set the ship on auto pilot and got up out of the capitan's chair to find Demise clinging to Xale as if she were a frightened cat, her body trembling heavily as her face had lost all its color and was as pale as a sheet of paper. Hazel unstrapped herself from the chair and took one look at her before giving her a reassuring smile, laughing uncontrollably on the inside.

"Don't worry, Demi, the shock wears off eventually. I nearly tore Felix's arm off the first time I went through hyperspace." She laughed encouragingly as he nodded and lifted his sleeve to show the gouges on his right arm.

"Yeah and the markings still haven't healed yet." He muttered as he took her hand in his gently. She looked at him with a grin and shook her head before thinking up something that might let her loosen up. She walked over to the console she had been sitting next to and typed in a command before all the lights went out on the ship.

"Okay, seeing as we have a week of possibly nothing to do, we might as well get started by playing a game. I'm counting to thirty and if you aren't hiding before the lights come back on, I'm coming after you with a little surprise. Got it?" She asked. She heard a scrambling of feet and sat down in the chair next to her, mentally counting off thirty seconds as slowly as she could as she tapped her fingers against the arm of the chair to the beat of a song she had heard.

_Who knew Kanye West could be so good, and addicting. _She thought idly with a smirk.

Ken went back down into the hanger bay, using the night-vision function on his glasses to see. He made his way to one of the Twilight fighters and was about to climb up the ladder to the cockpit when he heard someone panting slightly.

_Of course Demise wouldn't waste total darkness to try something. _He thought with a roll of his eyes as he thought of a way to mess with her. He stepped silently over to the darkest corner of the massive room and walked around the pile of crates that stood there to find no one there.

"That's weird. I could've sworn I heard someone back here." He muttered to himself.

"Please don't tell anyone I'm here. They'll hurt me if they find me again." A scared sounding voice whimpered from next to him. He turned quickly to his right and was blinded as the giant arc lamps of the cargo bay flashed back on. He ripped the glasses off his face and put the heels of his palms to his eyes to keep them from being overloaded by light again. He took his hands from his eyes and he felt someone tackle him into the wall hard, his back slamming into the steel and the back of his head smacking against it with a crack. He crumpled to the ground unconscious, but woke up a couple of minutes later with a groan.

"Ugh… what happened?" He murmured as he blinked a couple of times to clear his vision. He became aware of someone with their hands on his shoulders and they were trying to wake him up by shake him gently.

"Wake up. Wake up, please. I don't want to have another death on my conscience." The frightened voice from before pleaded desperately, her voice cracking slightly as she choked back a sob. He blinked a couple more times and found that he was staring up at the puffy eyed face of a husky, her blonde hair obscuring some of her face.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. Stop shaking me already." He rasped, much to her surprise and delight.

"Oh thank the gods I didn't kill you!" She cried before pulling him close and giving him a kiss on the lips, much to his surprise and pleasure. He let her kiss him for a few more minutes before she pulled away with a blush brightening her grey muzzle. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me!"

He propped himself up onto his elbows stiffly and gave her a crooked smile. "That's alright. You didn't mean any harm by it, I'm sure. Besides," He said as he tapped the side of his head. "You'd have to hit me pretty hard to kill me. Trust me, a few have tried." She giggled slightly and he smiled a bit wider when he heard the door to the cargo bay open.

"Come out, come out wherever you areeeeeeeeeeee…" Hazel called out, making his blood run cold as he thought what would happen to the stowaway if she were found. She seemed to be thinking the same thing, for she whimpered and quickly hid behind the crate he had found her near, cowering and shivering fearfully.

_Damn, why now? _He thought with a groan as he got into a crouch and chanced a peek out from behind the crate. Hazel was currently searching through a tarp-covered section of the cargo bay with her back to them, though he knew without a doubt that they would be spotted the instant they left cover.

"W-what're we going to do?" She asked timidly as she peered over his shoulder to look at the vixen. He put a finger to his lips to silence her and looked around him to find a wrench that had been left behind. He picked it up and weighed it in his hands with a smirk before throwing it as far as he could to the farthest corner of the hanger bay he could, feeling inwardly thankful that it was shadowy over there, even with the two dozen or so arc lamps beaming down on them. Hazel's ears perked up at the sound and she grinned as she crept over to the spot that the wrench had hit. Ken waited until she had been swallowed by the darkness before standing up.

"Okay come on!" He urged quietly as he grasped her hand and started sprinting as quietly as he could towards the exit, hoping that they would be gone before she knew she had been tricked. Just as he came to the doors, the same wrench he had thrown slammed into the wall three inches from his head and he knew he had been caught.

"Looks like you're unlucky number one, huh Ken? And you seem to have found our little stowaway; nice bonus." Hazel said as she jogged up to them with a smile on her maw. The husky hid behind Ken and eyed her fearfully, tempted to just bolt for the door if she could.

"Wait, you knew she was on board the entire time?" He asked in surprise. She nodded and looked at him incredulously.

"You act as if you're the only one who knows how to do a sweep of a ship, Ken. Yes, I did know she was here and I'm not going to shoot her out an airlock, so you can just calm down. I'm not that heartless, though I would like to know where she got that mark on the back of her hand from." She said as she walked over to the husky. She cringed from the observing gaze of the vixen and she looked at Ken for guidance, but he just nodded and she relaxed enough to raise her right hand to show Hazel.

The mark was a strange one, but she had been brushing up on both her Rapturian and Cerian histories for quite some time, so it registered with her immediately. The swirls and spirals were of a Cerian likeness, but the octagon that encased them was drawn in a way that only those who understood the Rapturian language would draw it.

_He wouldn't… _She thought with a mental growl as she bottled up her fury and gave the husky a forced smile. She recoiled slightly from her and flipped her hand so that the palm was facing her.

"Please, I just want a normal life again. I know I'm a freak now, but don't stare at me like I'm some sort of experiment; to many have done that to me already. Some have done so much worse to me, but I've already given amends and righted those wrongs. I know there's some kind of power rushing through my body and I may not know how to control it, but I will use it against you if you try and do what those scientists tried." She said, her eyes teary but determined. As she spoke, her hand glowed with a soft white light, but Hazel just shook her head and lashed out with her own hand, her pointed fingers stopping mere inches from her left eye, her fingers laced with deadly black electricity that popped and sparked off her claws.

"Do you think I would kill you or put you under some microscope and study you? I've already been on the receiving end of that feeling, so don't think you're the only one. There are others on this ship who have been going through the same thing, one all his natural born life he had been poked, prodded, experimented on and tortured." She growled sadly, a tear already coming to her eye as she thought about the story Felix told her about his life. She quickly wiped it away and took her hand away from the husky's face before staring at her apologetically. The husky blinked a couple of times, trying to work out how she had brought her hand so close to her face in that small of a time period, and stared blankly at her as she turned to Ken, who was equally struck speechless.

"H-how did…" He stammered, looking at her as she smiled slightly.

"Well, when you have trainers like Maxi and my other crewmates who like to work you to near unconsciousness, you tend to improve a lot, though Felix awarded me in a different way." She said with a small blush and a giggle when she noticed the husky staring at her in shock, as if she had never heard such a thing. Ken recovered first and shook his head with a laugh.

"Does that mean you're gonna be teaching us just as hard as they taught you? Cause if the rewards are… unconventional, then I am definitely game." He said with the dreamy look on his face before she punched him in the arm.

"Don't be thinking like that! It's so… embarrassing." She whispered, a blush showing bright red through her gray fur, making Hazel laugh.

"She is right, though, Ken, you shouldn't think like that, cause if Felix catches you staring at me while I'm teaching you and he sees anything 'naughty', he's gonna come down on you hard. Trust me, its happened before." She said with a quiet purr as she remembered the punishment he had given her for daydreaming in the middle of a training session. She hadn't been able to move for nearly a day, but it had been very much worth it.

"Earth to Hazel? Helloooooo?" Ken asked before snapping infront of her face a few times to make her come out of her daydream with a jolt. She smiled sheepishly at him and looked over at the husky with a smile.

"Well, do you want to stay here or are you going to help me find my friends? Afterwards we were going to have some lunch and then a long training session to see where everyone's at compared to me and Felix." She stopped before putting her hand on her shoulder. "I want you to be comfortable here. If you don't want to stay with us, then I'll have Ken stop us off at the nearest transfer station and we can get you onto a shuttle to whatever planet you choose. I'm not big on forcing decisions on people, so I want you to choose what you want to do." She turned to Ken and gave him a grin.

"What're you looking at me like that for?" He asked, wary of his friend, cause he knew what that grin usually meant.

"Oh nothing, nothing. Just thinking is all." She said with a wider grin before walking out the door. She turned to look at him before the doors could close. "By the way, you two are out and have to go wait in the lounge for the rest of us. Ken should know where it is, seeing as he spent the majority of the morning pouring over the schematics of the ship. See you in an hour or two." She said before running off to find Demise and the others, leaving Ken and his new tag along alone. The husky stared nervously at him and he gave her a shy smile.

"So, um, we should be heading off to the lounge, huh?" He asked. She nodded quickly with her blush still prominent on her muzzle as he led her out into the hall and took the left route, mentally thanking Hazel for this.

*** * ***

Hazel quickly found Felix in the kitchen, who incredibly had hidden himself in the cramped pantry by changing into a small dragon hatchling. His stomach had given him away and he had been snacking on a bag of cookies Dante had hidden in the corner.

"You do know Dante's gonna be pissed off when you find you've eaten his cookies, don't you?" She asked in a slightly babying voice as she picked him up out the pantry and held him in her arms before blowing a raspberry on his stomach, making him laugh and squirm in her arms like the little child he had once been a long time ago. When she felt he'd had enough torture, she put him on her back and walked off to find Demise and Xale, stopping off at her room to grab a couple more paint grenades incase they were using the game for more 'pleasurable' advances.

"What colors are those?" Felix asked, his voice that of an eight year old at the moment. She smirked.

"Neon Rainbow and Disco." She said with a giggle as she walked into the shooting range, which had been reconfigured with a 3-D recreation of a bayou house with a swamp surrounding it. There was digital mist covering much of the ground and she groaned to herself as she realized that this place had been the sight of their numerous Team Deathmatch games and that there were probably leftover guns and ammo crates littered all around the house.

_Great, just my luck to have to walk into a three story bayou house with only two paint grenades and no guns against a pair of possible- _A shot rang out through the swamp, breaking her train of thought and forcing her to drop to the ground to avoid getting shot in the head with a paint pellet. –_Make that definite sharpshooters. Well, who says life isn't full of challenges? _Hazel thought to herself as she pushed herself up off the ground and sprinted to the small cemetery next to an entrance on the right wing of the house. She quickly slid on the moist ground under her feet and narrowly avoided the shots that were aimed at her head by ducking behind a mausoleum. Felix dropped down off her back and shifted shape in a ball of soft light to his normal, twenty-five year old self.

"Well you picked a fine time to show up." She joked as she broke open the cement door of the mausoleum to grab a battle rifle and a couple of fresh clips for it before moving aside to let Felix take his pick.

"Well, your back was just so comfortable that I was considering staying there for the rest of the game." He laughed as he picked up an assault rifle with a digital scope and pair of pistols incase they ran out of ammo in their main guns.

Demise watched the spot where they were through the scope of her sniper rifle, the stock rubbing against her shoulder as her eye was pressed against the rubber molded eyepiece. It was an old, bolt-action rifle of Russian make called the Dragonuv. She had found it hidden away in one of the old trunks in the attic and couldn't believe her luck. She had also found a pair of comm. links for her and Xale, so they wouldn't be out of contact incase one of them was ambushed.

"(kzk) Demise, do you have a bead on the targets?" Xale asked. He was currently sitting on the second floor with a few motion activated paint turrets at the major entrances to the second floor, one at each door to the outside veranda and two at the entrance to the stairs that led to his and her floors. There were also a few mines lying around on the first floor as well as miniature cameras to watch the entrances for anyone.

He had made a barricade in one room to make it look as if he had been waiting in the master bedroom, but in fact he was waiting in the guest room with the windows flung wide open and the door completely unguarded, figuring reverse psychology would help him stay alive. He had found a pair of SPAZ riot shotguns in the wardrobe of the master bedroom, but the real prize was the hand held minigun he had found propped up against the bed as if begging him to take it. It had a drum that was fitted with three hundred rounds of ammunition and he could set it up on a tripod stand to let it shoot for him like a mobile turret.

To the passerby, the bayou house would look all but impregnable, but to Hazel and Felix, it was just another Deathmatch with a pair who thought they were untouchable.

"Yeah. They're just sitting behind a mausoleum." She replied with a smile as she realized what had happened. "Be careful, though. They probably found an ammo cache we missed, so it won't be as one sided as we thought."

"Yeah, I kinda figured. Well, stay safe."

"You too." She answered as she noticed a movement at the left side of the mausoleum. She followed it for maybe a split second, but something told her that that would be enough for a good shot. She looked back at the right side and swore as she grabbed her rifle and threw herself to the ground. Just as she covered her head, a massive paint explosion encompassing the window and the wall where she had just been watching from rocked the attic, making dust fall from the ceiling on the second floor.

"Nice shot, Felix." Hazel said with a whistle as he lowered the rocket launcher. He put the spent weapon back into the cache and nodded with a grin before picking up his assault rifle and using a well placed shot to take out the turret on the door they needed to use to get in the house. It fell over with a spray of bullets and shut off.

They then ran off to take positions on either side of the steps leading up to the first floor landing. Hazel signaled for him to take point and they carefully made there way into the living room. Almost immediately, there was a beeping and they threw themselves behind furniture to avoid the paint mine as it hopped into the air and sprayed everything in sight. They heard a lumbering on the stairs and knew that either Xale or Demise would be coming down to unleash their wrath. Hazel quickly scurried to the next rooms and disarmed the trip mines lying in wait for them with quick shocks of electricity before hiding on the opposite side of the entryway, purposefully leaving one mine active to see if they would fall for it.

It turned out Xale had come down to check on the defenses. He looked around quickly, first in the entryway then moving off to the other rooms, starting with the one to his right where he had heard the mine go off. By that time, Felix had caught up with Hazel and as Xale walked around the corner, she ran over to the mine, scooped it up and tossed it into the room after him. As he turned around to go back, he was met face first with the mine and threw up a shield of dark energy in time to stop the brunt of the blast, but it still had enough kick to send him flying into a sofa and bouncing off of it to lay dazed on the ground. She walked into the room, satisfied with her work and plugged him in the back with a round of fluorescent red paint.

"Target down." She muttered to Felix. Then in a louder voice, "You're next Demi. Hope you got yourself locked up good and tight!"

Felix rolled his eyes and sighed as he started up the steps, keeping close to the wall incase of any hidden traps they might've left for them. "Hey Hazel, you have any grenades?" He asked quietly. She shook her head and went back to grab something off the chair in the paint soaked room before coming back. She then tossed it over the railing to the second floor and watched as the pillow was torn to shreds by paint rounds.

"She won't make it easy, will she?" She asked as she heard hurried footsteps and the grinding of metal against wood as Demise set up all the turrets except three at the foot of the stairs leading to the attic, keeping them pinned at the point.

"Do you think you can deactivate them from here?" He asked; tensing his legs to make a suicide run if need be. Hazel thought for a second.

"Only if you take the heat, then yeah, I'd be able to make it." She said; keeping her own legs coiled for the sprint she was about to make. He nodded and took a deep breath before running up the wall as high as he could go and springing off of it to knock down one of the turrets while the other three aimed after him as he ran to the open door infront of him. He rounded the corner just as they started shooting at him and Hazel used that opportunity to rush up the stairs to the attic, lobbing a ball of electricity to short out the turrets for the remainder of the game before running up into the attic itself. She looked around for Demise and couldn't find her. She took a couple of steps forward and heard the hum of a minigun priming the split second after she had dove for one of the trunks lying nearby.

"You'll have to come out of hiding if you want to get a shot off at me, Hazey!" She called over the noise of the gun as she moved slowly to get a better shot off. Hazel knew when she was beat and tossed her rifle away from the trunk, after which the paint stopped slamming into the trunk.

"That's a good girl, now just stand up and come out where I can see you."

She sighed and did what she was told before walking over to stand about four feet from Demise, her hands held loosely at her sides in defeat and her ears flat against her head in indignation.

"Oh put a smile on your face and toss me the pistol I know you have on you." She said in a voice that dripped with arrogance. Hazel obliged and unholstered the pistol from her hip before tossing it up higher than she needed to. As Demise watched it, she whipped the pistol she had taken from Felix from behind her back and shot her twice in the chest at the same time as a turret somehow turned back on and plugged her with shots in the arm and the leg. She stumbled to the ground and groaned in pain as she noticed for the first time the other minigun set up on a tripod in the corner, covered up by a tarp.

_Damnit I should've seen that one coming. Man, that stings! _She muttered angrily as she picked herself up off the ground and sat up against the trunk with a groan, her left side burning where the rounds had broken the skin. Demise was doing the same, though she was coughing from the impact as it had knocked the breath from her lungs. She struggled to her feet and lifted her shirt to look at the damage that the paint pellets had left on her undershirt and chest and let out a sigh as the bruises already started receding into her skin until they were completely gone.

"You're lucky I heal quickly or I'd hit you for that little trick." She grimaced. Hazel laughed gently before wincing at the pain the motion had brought. She gingerly slipped her arm into her shirt and lifted it up to examine the indents in her fur that the pellets had left on her, but was surprised to find that when she touched them, she didn't feel any tenderness in the areas at all. She pushed down a little harder and winced again as she felt the spot where she had been shot start healing itself slowly.

_That's weird. I haven't been able to self heal since… _She stopped in mid-thought as she looked at her right arm and quickly smashed her fist against her forearm, growling softly in pain as she felt the flesh yield to the hit. She sighed in relief and slowly got to her feet before slipping her arm back into her sleeve, wondering why she could self heal if the parasite wasn't inside her anymore. She looked over at Demise, who was currently staring at her as if she were crazy, and thought about asking her about her newly resurfaced power, but she thought against it.

"I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Wanna come to the lounge with us?" She asked, grinning slightly as she stretched her arm to keep it from getting stiff. Demise looked at her for a second and shook her head.

"Sure, why not. I mean you did win the game and all." She said with a shrug before walking out of the attic with Hazel close behind.

"True, though I should make you and Xale cook lunch, seeing as you two did lose." She joked with a laugh.

Ken sat on the sofa watching the husky across from him with a look of curiosity in his eyes. He had tried on several occasions to start a conversation with her so she would open up to him, but she stayed relatively silent, answering with one word answers and not asking anything about him. He sighed and relaxed into the sofa so that he was sitting slightly slouched, his hand over his eyes as he propped his feet up on the table.

It was at that moment that Hazel and the others came in, and a lot of things happened at once.

The husky, having been able to sense that both Demise and Xale were onboard, immediately jumped across the table to land in Ken's lap and nearly knock the wind out of him with her sudden landing as well as where the point of her elbow had slammed into him. Demise had recoiled into Xale and began to feel woozy as the parasite in her body began squirming and nearly killing itself as it tried to get away from the hostile entity in the room. Xale had felt his internal combat skills kick in and fought savagely to keep from going berserk and endangering everyone in the room. Hazel and Felix didn't feel anything, but they could sense something was wrong and quickly split to handle the two situations at hand: Felix had went to see if their new passenger was feeling alright while Hazel went to keep Demise from dying with gentle pulses of energy to calm the parasite down, fearing that if it died, the girl's body would die as well.

"What's going on?" Felix asked concernedly as the husky began to whimper fearfully and clutch to Ken as if their contact was keeping her alive. She shook her head quickly and continued whimpering while Ken was groaning in pain. Hazel looked fearfully into Demise's eyes and saw that her pupils had dilated to the point that her irises couldn't be seen anymore. Before she could do anything, however, her metallic hand shot out and gripped her around the throat tightly, the claw-like nails digging deeply into her neck, drawing blood in the process.

She struggled desperately against the vice-like grip and whispered an apology before gathering a near lethal amount of electricity in her fist and slammed it into her stomach, the shock dispersing throughout her entire body and shutting her muscles down. She dropped against Xale's chest as her legs gave out and her grip loosened on Hazel's throat enough for her hand to flop limply to her side, leaving the vixen choking and sputtering to breath right again.

"What the hell was that about?" She rasped, taking her hand from her throat and smearing her blood onto the leg of her jeans. Xale looked up at her with a forlorn look and was about to answer when the husky screamed. She put her hands over head and started rocking back and forth in Ken's lap, her whimpers becoming a babbling that couldn't even be understood by Felix. He had tried to read her thoughts, but a mental barrier had stopped him and sent him reeling, his nose bleeding from the strength of it. Ken shook his head and stared down at the wreck that the husky had become and held her close to his chest, much to everyone's surprise.

"It's going to be alright. Just follow the sound of my voice and come back to us. No one's going to hurt you, we just want to help you…" He trailed in a whisper as he nuzzled her forehead gently, trying his best to calm her down while the others just stared in quiet awe. She slowly stopped trembling and her whimpering became coherent words again, but she stayed curled in the ball she was in on his lap.

"That's right, just keep listening to my voice… come on, I want to see that smiling face again." He whispered; this time with tears in his eyes as he was reminded of his sister in this husky. He had always been the one to comfort her and now this fur that he had met only a couple of hours ago had him bringing up memories he had tried desperately to forget, such as her funeral. The husky sniffed sadly and took her hands from her head before looking up at him with a look of confusion.

"You… You like my smile?" She asked quietly. He nodded with a teary grin and held her closer to him.

"Of course I do. It's one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen." He whispered before giving her cheek a gentle nuzzle, making her giggle softly and cuddle closer to him. Hazel watched this and couldn't help but smile.

"Okay then, our meeting has been moved to my room. Ken, you should keep your new friend company for a while so she isn't lonely while me and Xale make sure Demise recovers fully. Felix, you go check the infirmary for anything we might need." She said before grabbing her legs and helping Xale carry her out of the lounge. Felix looked at Ken and his guest for a couple of seconds before shaking his head and leaving the lounge to go get some smelling salts to wake Demise up if she hadn't already.

Xale gently put her down on the fresh sheets and propped her head up on a couple of the bigger pillows before sitting down next to her, brushing a few strands of loose hair out of her face with a nervous look on his face.

"Xale, what happened in the lounge?" Hazel asked. She pulled up the chair she had left over from one of her more experimental times and sat down with her arms crossed, a look on her face that meant she wanted answers. He sighed and looked up at her with borderline paranoia in his eyes.

"It was the reaction of Demise's parasite to something that would potentially kill it; a sort of survival suicide if you will. It happened for me as well, but I've been under the microscope longer than she has been, so I've had more experience getting that under control." He started, having to dredge up memories he hated as he looked back down at Demise.

"What do you mean?" She interrupted. Before she could stop herself, she put her hand on his shoulder and forced him to turn to look at her. "Axel, I know its you in there." Xale shook his head and pushed her hand away.

"No, Axel is on Earth. I once was the darker side of him, but Michael found a way to separate the two of us, so now I'm my own entity. He's probably getting worked on as we speak, being the guinea pig for experiments meant for me." He muttered sadly as he looked down at his hands. Hazel gasped involuntarily and felt something she had walled off a long time ago break free inside her.

"Axel… is captured…" She whispered fearfully. She knew all to well what Sunshade could do to someone if they tried hard enough. She had seen the result on many a mission where they had gotten there a fraction too late. The thought of Axel being in the same, if not worse, situation she had been in under Michael's hospitality made her shudder terribly. Xale nodded stiffly and ran a hand through his headfur before looking over at her, wondering if he shouldn't have told her that bit of information.

Hazel shook off the doubt that was clawing at her chest and let the cold certainty wash over her. Axle was somewhere in the confines of the Sunshade compound on Earth and whether she liked the situation or not, she would get him out.

Demise groaned slightly in pain and her eyes fluttered open as she put the cold metal of her hand against her forehead to help get rid of the headache she had.

"Ugh, what happened to me?" She asked. Xale quickly grabbed her hand and helped her up into a sitting position before giving her a massive hug, catching her by surprise. "And I love you to, you big furball."

Felix walked in at that time and he dropped the stuff he had been carrying onto the bed before moving over to Demise's side, asking her questions about how she felt and other medical jargon. No one noticed Hazel walk out of the room and head for the lounge. There was a lingering sense of déjà vu about the husky that was driving her crazy.

She gave the door a knock and waited for Ken to tell her she could come in before she did so. She took a seat on a vacant bar stool and leaned against the counter as she stared at the husky, who was currently sitting in his lap with a glass of white wine in her hand. That was what made the connection in her mind.

"You're Sonya Winters!" She blurted, making Ken and her look over at her in surprise.

"What're you talking about, Hazel?" Ken asked.

"I remember you now. You used to be at the university with me. You were one of Jasper's really good friends. What happened to you after graduation? You were there one day and then…" She trailed, feeling a horrid sense of déjà vu as she remembered how she had been kidnapped as well. Sonya looked down at her glass and downed the contents before putting it down onto the table, a sad and confused look in her eyes.

"I was named Sonya? I don't remember any of it: my childhood, my parents, my friends. Everything is a blur to me." She whispered before staring at her hands, the palms pure white with a symbol in the middle. Hazel looked at the husky and sighed as she rummaged in her pocket for a locket she had found in Ken's warehouse. She walked over to her and placed the locket in her hand. She looked up and saw that she was smiling at her.

"Open it."

Sonya did so and popped the clasp on the heart shaped locket with her thumb to find a picture in it. It was of her, Hazel, Ken and Jasper at a water park one summer. Hazel was giving Jasper a punch in the arm for something he had said while Ken had an arm draped around her shoulder with a bright smile on her face. Sonya touched the glass film over the photo and watched a tear drip down onto her hand.

"See? That's you, me, Ken and my friend Jasper." She said; pointing them out in turn as she thought about what was happening in her life.

At first nothing strange was going on, just doing random missions for those who wanted to pay their prices and getting them done. Then the vacation and now this. She felt as if she were no longer in control of her own destiny.

She had to admit, it was not a good feeling.

_**I'll post the next chapter sooner or later. Hopefully writer's block doesn't get in my way too much.**_


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